Dimensional Alchemy
by Kit-Kat-Kitsune
Summary: Two girls from present times are pulled into the FMA world when the Dimensions Alchemist opens the gate. Trapped with almost no hope of getting home, the two girls attempt to find their way, but what occurs may be more than what they bargined for.
1. Into the Alchemical World

Disclaim: Fullmetal Alchemist belongs to Square Enix, Madman Entertainment, Viz Media, Chuang Yi, Revelation Films, Studio Bones, Monthly Shonen, Makoto Inoue, and well a lot of people but most importantly it belongs to our hero Hiromu Arakawa. The original characters found in this script are the only thing we own, besides the text and original plot. This is purely fan made and is not in any way shape or form an attempt to slander any of the people or companies listed. This work was written for entertainment purposes for the reader and mostly the authors themselves.

* * *

"Y-yes, I-I am almost done now," the man said to himself, scribbling quickly on the floor with white artist chalk. The room was dimly lit but the outline of furniture was clear enough for one to identify them. There was a large wooden work desk with piles of opening books stacked atop one another, each with a dozen bookmarked pages. Along with the books there seemed to be a number of individual pages scattered around, all with scribbles that meant nothing to any normal person. Though his hand writing was chicken scratch, the drawings on the papers looked professional. That may have explained the array of artist tool that went along with the mess. Besides the desk, there was a bookshelf with even more poorly stacked books, a pile of dishes from late night dinners spent in the study, a coat rack with a brown paper boy hat accompanied by a thin grey coat, and a mess of other knickknacks were around the room. The jacket was most interesting for from its pocket hung a chain, the chain of a silver pocket watch, which told that the man obsessively scribbling on the floor was a state alchemist.

Outside night had fallen and the pouring rain was pounding on the roof unmercifully. Thunder clapped and a moment later lightning danced across the black sky, filling the study with bright light thanks to the small lonely window. The man's drawing on the floor was visible for a split second. It was a complex transmutation circle. "C-complete," the man muttered standing up. Now on his feet, it was apparent that he was short in stature. He adjusted his large red rimmed glassed and tucked a lock of his short messy dirty blond hair behind his ear, all in one motion. The sound of pounding rain was suddenly accompanied with the sound of someone pounding on his front door.

"Dr. Parry Vautour! Your state alchemist title, 'The Dimensions Alchemist,' has been abolished due to certain standards in your state contract that you have neglected! You're being stripped of all your authority and, under the order of Führer King Bradley, being evicted from your living courter which is property of the state!" Roy shouted from outside the doctor's door, standing in the pouring rain with his men at the ready. Vautour had been giving Roy trouble for quite awhile now and it was finally time for him to sack the doctor.

"I-I-I-I-I," Parry stuttered, his eyes widening as his head whipped around at the sound of Mustang's angry voice. God, that man scared him. "I-I'll be th-there in a moment," Parry shouted back as he scrambled to get things in place. He was going to do this! He had to! His entire life's work had boiled down to this one moment. Parry wasn't going to let anyone wreck it for him! He ran through the doors that lead to his bedroom and make shift kitchen. The doctor ignored the hammering at his front door as he ran to the crib that was at the far wall. He dipped his hands into the crib and pulled out a bundle of blankets.

"Sir, I hear a child inside," Jean said to his commanding officer. Roy listened carefully. Through the rain, he could hear the crying of a baby. His eyes narrowed. "Open this door. I want that child safe in my custody and that quack arrested in five minutes," Roy shouted to his men.

"Shh, Roxanne," Dr. Vautour whispered sweetly to the sobbing child as he softly rocked her in his arms. He went back to the other room and another rumble of thunder, paired with lightening, broke through the night air. Roxanne let out another loud cry. "It's ok d-dear," Parry said, kneeling down on the ground and placing the baby girl in the middle of the transmutation circle. She continued to cry. "Shh, look its Mr. Yellow," the doctor said in a cute voice as he conjured a yellow toy bunny from behind his back. "Don't cry any more Roxy, or you'll make me sad too," Parry said as he made the stuffed animal dance back and forth. "Eh," Roxanne pouted as she reached out for the toy. "There you go," Parry sighed as he handed the girl the bunny. The pounding of the door was getting louder as the men outside tried to break the door down. Vautour continued quickly. "I-I'm s-sorry Roxanne," the doctor said with a strained voice, almost chocking on his words. He laid his hands down at the edge of the circle. The air around him seemed to pulse as the room exploded with alchemic glow and the circle was activated.

Roy's eyes grew wide when he saw the glow from inside. "Move!" Roy shoved the men out of the way of the door as he slipped on a dry glove. The door exploded in flames and he marched through the now open passage. The glow dimmed just as he grabbed a hold of the handle to the study. "Damn it," he cursed, knowing he was too late.

The next thing he knew, Parry found himself in an empty white space. The doctor stood, knowing exactly where he was. "I-it's just as F-fullmetal expl-pl-plained," he stammered as he spun around. He laughed with excitement as The Gate appeared before him. With his arms stretched out, he went to examine The Gate but just as was about to touch it, it swung into itself. "Y-yes! Look Roxanne!" His eyes and smile were wide, making him look crazed with excitement. "I-I'm going to re-reach out and pu-pull another being out from th-the other side! An in-inhabitance f-from the other s-s-side! Th-the other dimension!" He plunged his arms into the darkness.

Roy and his men burst into the room. Parry was sitting on the ground, his body propped up against the wall. The doctor was painted crimson. The crying of Roxanne reassured it wasn't the child's blood but one look at the man and you could tell it was his own. From his elbows down, both of Parry's arms were gone. Roy turned to inspect, what looked like, two extra bodies that were lying in the center of the circle.

On closer inspection, he realized that the bodies were two girls dressed in odd clothes resembling a pants and shirt ensemble. One of them had shoulder length red hair and the other had brown hair that stopped a little past her ears. Mustang turned back to the Dimensions Alchemist, who was wearing an insane grin.

"I-I did it. I did it. I r-really did it," he kept whispering.

"Who are they Parry," Mustang questioned, pointing towards the bodies on the floor.

"Th-they are girls f-from another di-dimension. One th-that's p-p-parallel to ours. Those g-girls are from be-beyond the gate." Parry replied laughing.

"Men, take him out of here and lock him up." Several men walked cautiously over to the insane alchemist as Mustang looked at him disgustedly. The men carefully picked the alchemist up and left the house.

"Lt. Hawkeye, what's the status on the girls and the baby?"

"The baby is just fine and the girls appear to only be unconscious, but otherwise alright." She replied picking up the child, attempting to calm her down.

"Good." Mustang walked over towards the girls on the floor. He bent down and swung the one with brown hair into his arms. "Havoc, grab the other girl. We're taking them with us back to headquarters." He turned to leave as something in the corner of the alchemical circle caught his attention. He tried to make out what it was, but it was too dark.

"Falman, there's an object on the edge of the circle. Grab it and bring it here."

"Yes sir." Falman walked over to the object as instructed and picked it up. A puzzling and slightly disgusted look appeared on his face. He walked back over to his commanding officer holding the object as far away from him as possible. As he came closer, the colonel was able to get a good look at the thing.

"Falman, what is that thing?" Mustang asked, his head cocked to the side curiously.

"It appears to be a bag in the shape of a bat sir."

"Right. Well, bring let's bring it with us. It might belong to one of these two girls." With that being said, the colonel turned towards the door and walked outside, the others following him in a small procession, all the way to headquarters carrying two girls from a different dimension, an innocent baby used in a human transmutation, and an odd bat shaped pack.

~oOo~

They walked into Mustang's office and started to set what they had brought down. Roy placed the brown haired girl down on one sofa and Havoc placed the redhead on the other. Riza sat down with the baby in her arms, sleeping peacefully. Falman stood there holding the bat-pack as far from him as possible, wondering what to do with it. After making sure that the girls were comfortable and weren't in any danger of falling off of the sofas, Roy turned around.

"Falman, please hand me that thing." He opened his hand to receive the pack. Falman quickly walked over to him, happily placing the bat-pack into his colonel's open hand, and sat down at his desk. Roy went up to his desk and started examining the pack. It was fuzzy, had small chocolate brown eyes, and two pointy ears on top of its head. He turned it around to see two straps that would be used to carry it and a zipper with a small card attached. He pulled the zipper down and saw that the inside of it was white and contained small items. A pen, what looked like two pencils except mechanical, a small container that had thin cylinder like items in them, a rectangle shaped piece of technology attached to a red and black cloth necklace, an eraser that had many different and odd names tattooed into it, a green stone and a small silver bead attached to blue yarn, three small circular coins that he assumed was a form of currency, and a small tube of orange flavored chap stick.

"What did you find in it sir?" Havoc asked, sitting backwards on his chair, his cigarette hanging slightly out of his mouth.

"Some weird things. Let's just leave it at that." He turned the bat-pack back around so that the front was facing him. "Now what should I do with this? I think I'll burn it." He set it down on the desk and held up his hands when suddenly a small yet heavy paperweight hit him in the head and knocks him to the ground.

"Don't you DARE hurt Elric. I will murder you if you even try to do that again. Do you hear me, Roy?" Everyone turned to see the girl with the red hair standing up with fire in her eyes. She stalked over to the desk and went to pick up the bat-pack when she saw all the items on the desk. "You went through him as well! Didn't anyone ever tell you that it's not nice to go through someone's guts," she hissed narrowing her eyes at the stunned and floored colonel. She gathered up the items and put them back into the bat, zipping it up. She held it away from her and inspected it. "There now Elric. All your intestines are back in place." She crooned at it, smiling. She turned back to the sofa and sat down, staring at the girl across from her.

The others looked around at each other as Mustang slowly stood up. This girl might be just as insane as the alchemist who brought her here. On top of that, she apparently knew the colonel's name and she called the bat Elric. Did she know the Elric brothers as well?

"Um….Who are you?" Havoc asked calmly as to not raise the girl's wrath against him.

"My name is Katie and the girl across from me is Sarah."

* * *

Author's Notes-

WishesIWasHuman: Dear heavenly father forgive your child for I think I may have sinned. I'm not really sure. I was the one who asked Kit-Kat-Kitsune to write this RP with me. It was not until it was too late that I realized what I had gotten myself into. "I have just agreed to write a Fullmetal Alchemist self-insert RP with Kit-Kat." That was what I was thinking to myself. I feared the monster that I was sure was about to be created but I found that it wasn't so bad (definitely not my best writing) and I even took pleasure in writing this. Yes, the characters have their OOC moments but what fan fiction doesn't? I did my best not to make the OCs Mary-Sue. The only way I will know if I have created a monster is if I release it onto the web. Have mercy. Amen

–Wishes.

Kit-Kat-Kitsune: Ok, first off, in response to what Wishes so kindly said up above, I'M DOING MY BEST! This is my first RP and I would like to think that for my first one, it's going pretty well. I know that I have other fanfics that I have neglected and since I've been working hard on this with Wishes, I'm going to pick those back up. I know that if I'm not careful that my character will easily turn into a Mary-Sue, so I've been trying to make sure that it didn't happen. I hope that everyone who reads this enjoys it.

~Kit-Kat

Please review!


	2. Chapter 2

Kit-Kat: This chapter and the next one are dedicated to our one reviewer, Chocolate Pockey-chan. Thanks so much for reviewing!

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"Katie and Sarah," Roy muttered to himself as if to remember, then went over to the currently awake girl. "How do you know my name, or the Elrics for that matter," he asked, starting his interrogation.

"Well, I know because….I wished for it," Katie said placing her index finger on her chin and turned her head to the side cutely with a matching smirk. Roy felt a ting of anger pulse up in his veins.

"Well that sounds like a load of crap. I want a real answer," he said giving her a stern look.

"Watch your mouth young man," the girl shouted, wagging a finger at him, her voice pitching a bit higher as if she was completely amused by the whole situation.

"Y-young man!"

"What? Are you saying you're not a young man? Are you an old man?"

Havoc chucked but stopped when Roy gave him a hateful look. A playful smile spread across Katie's face, a sign that she was clearly toying with the colonel.

Voices started to rise.

"I'm older then you! You need to show a little more respect!"

"Maybe you would get some respect if you didn't try to set fire to people's things without partition, Roy," Katie hollered, getting to her feet but Roy didn't seem to be intimidated as he snapped back.

"That's Mustang or colonel to you! Now, where are you from? Are you from another dimension like the doctor claims?"

"Well you see Roy, when a mommy and a daddy love each other very much-"

"Arg! That's not what I meant," Roy yelled in frustration, pulling at his hair.

All of the yelling seemed to disturb the other girl's sleeping, as she let out a small grumble and shifted slightly on the sofa. This caught Roy's eye and he walked over to the sleeping figure.

"I can't get anything that makes sense out of what you say, so I'll just ask your friend."

He bent down and tried to shake the sleeping girl awake. She mumbled in her sleep "Sean, go away. It's too early to wake up." She raised her arm and swung it down sleepily, hitting the colonel across the face. A faint crack could be heard in the quiet room. When Roy reached up the touch his face, he found that his nose was bleeding.

"She broke my nose. She's just as bad as you." He said in awe and anger towards Katie.

"First off, let me try and wake her. Second off, you so deserved that Roy." Katie stood up and walked over to the sleeping girl, kneeling next to her face and shoulder, holding her bat-pack with arm as the other gently touched the other girl's shoulder.

"That's Colonel Mustang to you." Roy mumbled as he stepped away from the girl, just in case she decided to be violent again.

"Sarah. Sarah. Come on Sarah, it's time to wake up. There's a really cool surprise here for you if you wake up." Katie said gently shaking Sarah, causing the girl to wake up.

"Uh, what? What surprise Katie…."Sarah trailed off as she looked around the room. "Katie, why am I looking at the FMA characters? Are we in the FMA world?" Sarah asked in quiet awe.

"Yes Sarah, we're in the FMA world. That's why you're looking at the characters. They're real people." Katie said in a slight patronizing manner. Sarah looked around the room in interest, her eyes coming to rest on a certain colonel with a damaged face.

"Katie, why does Roy have a bruise on his forehead and a bleeding nose?"

"Well the bruise is there because he tried to burn Elric, so I threw the paper weight that was on the table to stop him," she held up her bat as she continued on "and while he was trying to get you to wake up, you accidently thought he was your brother and hit him. I think you might have broken his nose." Katie said giggling slightly.

"It's not a laughing matter little girl. Now on to business." Katie glared up at Roy who seemed to have stopped his nose from bleeding by stuffing tissues up it, and growled slightly at him. He appeared not to notice though. "Now, seeing as Katie was unwilling to answer my questions, perhaps you will. How do you know my name and do you know the Elrics? Where are you from? Are you really from another dimension?"

"We know your name because you're a fictional character in one of our favorite manga/anime series. Unfortunately we don't know the Elrics personally, but we know of them. We are from Leesburg, Virginia. And finally, yes we are from another dimension." Sarah answered calmly, but still appeared to be slightly fazed by all that was happening.

Roy turned to Katie with a smug grin on his face. "See, now wasn't that easy. Why couldn't you have cooperated as easily as that?" He obviously wasn't expecting an answer to his question, but he was going to get one.

Katie rose from her crouched position with a sweet smile. "Because Roy, you are a self-centered, arrogant, cocky, idiotic, imbecilic, pedophilic, perverted, ignorant bastard with a god complex!" The sweet smile quickly changed to a grimace as Katie's face became hostile as she got closer to the Colonel and continued to raise her voice.

"Who is yelling at Roy like that, because they are my new best friend," a voice from the hall called, breaking the load chaos into silence.


	3. Chapter 3

"Edward," Roy said, as the young blond strolled into the room, "this isn't the time for foolishness."

"Well there seems to be enough of it going on in here," Edward answered smartly.

"Brother…," the tall suit of armor that had entered the room with him sighed, but was ignored.

"Mustang…" Sarah said, trying to get Roy's attention. Roy moved his eyes over to where she was sitting on the sofa and she gestured over where Katie was standing. The red-head was standing perfectly still next to Roy, mouth slightly ajar in amazement, and her eyes wide as she stared at Edward. "Katie," Sarah whispered cautiously, as if there were a wild animal in front of her and she was trying to coax it into not attacking. "Katie, don't," Sarah said firmly and calmly.

"But Sar-"

"Yes, Katie, I know but you need to control yourself."

"Its-," Katie started. Her lips curled up into a big smile.

"Edward, run," Sarah shouted, whipping her head around to look at him.

"What? Why," Ed asked, looking at her with a confused look. Then as he was turning his head back at Katie, all he saw was a blur of color came hurdling toward him. The young alchemist shouted as Katie through her arms around him and the two tumbled to the ground.

"OhMyGosh! ItsReallyEdwardElric! Aha! Awesome," Katie shouted some nonsense as she proceeded to squeeze the life out of Edward. "Can't…breathe," Edward gasped. Alphones and Sarah jumped to pull the two apart. "Are you crazy," the blond shouted at the red head as his younger brother pulled him to his feat. "I'm sorry, she is just-," Sarah stated to explained but could find the words to really describe how Katie was. She redirected her speech at Edward's attacker. "Katie, don't do that without warning someone," Sarah said a bit scoldingly. "But he is so short-," was the girl's reply. Edward's face turned red with anger.

"Who you calling a pipsqueak midget, who can't even go to the beach because he's so small, he can sink into the sand, and when the tide comes in he doesn't even say anything or worry about drowning cuz he's so microscopic, he can breathe oxygen atoms through the water!"

"Brother, calm down," Alphones said, holding back his raging brother while Sarah held back Katie.

"-it's cute," Katie sang, finishing her thought.

Edward's anger melted away, though his face stayed red. "It's not a complement for a guy to be called cute. I-I'm manly!"

"Short people can be manly."

"I'm not short! You're just some freakishly tall girl!"

"Alright I think that's enough," Roy said intervening, "It's getting late. Riza, do you mind housing the girls for the night?"

"Huh," Riza said, raising her head. "Don't mind her Mustang. She is living out a real life game of house right now," Havoc chuckled as he eyed the other lieutenant cradling the sleeping child. "I-I am not," Riza stammered. "I bet you played with a lot off dolls as a little girl," Havoc teased. "On the contrary-," Riza started but was cut off by Roy. "That's enough you two. Now, will you take the girls for the night? I can arrange for someone to take the child but I want these two under my watchful eyes," Roy said. She gave him a short nod for her answer. "Good. I'll fill out my report tomorrow morning and hand it in to the Führer. You're dismissed."

~oOo~

Birds sang and sunlight streamed in through an opening in the blue curtains, landing on the two girls. Katie stirred, sat up, and stretched, turning slowly to both sides and then turned to look at her companion, Sarah. As she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes with one hand, she used the other to awaken Sarah.

"Come on Sarah. It's time to get up." Her companion groggily groaned and opened her eyes.

"Katie…What are you doing in my bed and how did you get into my house, let alone my room?" Sarah asked while sleepily raising an eyebrow.

"I don't know. I did have a really weird dream though. We went to the FMA world and I hit Roy with a paper weight and screamed at him for attacking Elric, that was fun by the way, and you broke his nose..."

"And then you glomped Edward, almost choking him to death, then called him cute, and then we went with Riza to her apartment to stay for the night. I know, I had the same dream." Sarah and Katie looked at each other and then around at the room. Suddenly, the door to the room opened to show Riza with wet hair and a towel around her neck.

"Glad to see you two are up. Get dressed and come have something to eat. We need to report to the Colonel soon." Riza said nonchalantly, leaning against the doorway.

Katie and Sarah just stared blankly at her then realization lit their eyes.

"Holy Hell! It wasn't a dream!" Katie screeched at the top of her lungs. Sarah however had a different reaction. Sarah jumped right out of bed and bounded right up to Riza.

"Oh my gosh! You're really real! Katie this is awesome! We're really in the FMA world!" Sarah continued in obvious excitement, practically dancing around the room with never ending energy.

Riza just stared at the two slightly dumbfounded. By the way the girls had acted yesterday, she had thought that Katie was the hyper insane one and that Sarah was the calm one. Apparently, that wasn't the case.

"Just hurry up and get dressed. We need to go report in soon." Riza stated as she stood up off the doorway. Katie nodded and numbly stumbled out of the bed, towards her clothes from the other day. Sarah, still in her hyper state, grinned widely and ran over to where her clothes were sitting. Both dressed relatively quickly and all three of the girls ate breakfast, then proceeded to headquarters.

Sarah and Katie were staring at everything in obvious awe. As the three reached headquarters, Katie seemed to shrink back behind Riza and Sarah, clinging to Elric for dear life. Riza took a slight notice of this, but said nothing and continued into the Mustang's office.

As Sarah and Katie entered, they saw Mustang and the Elrics stop talking to look at them. Ed seemed a little apprehensive as Katie stepped forward towards him. The others in the room tensed in preparation to grab the girl in case she decided to attack him again.

"Katie…"

"Edward…"

"…"

"…"

Tension seemed to hang in the air, as everyone waited in silence for the eruption they were sure was about to happen.

"…I apologize."

Edward made a face, surprised by her words, "Uh, well." He was completely caught off guard.

"Ha it seems that she maybe a little mature after all, at least more then you Ed," Roy half laughed, leaning back in his chair.

"What are you trying to say," Edward asked. He turned his attention back to Katie, feeling embarrassed for acting so childish.

"Edward, you're supposed to say-," Roy started up teasingly.

"I know what I'm supposed to say, you idiot!" After a moment, Edward let out a sigh. "I forgive you."

Katie cracked an innocent smile again, "Well then I hope with can be friends from here on out!"

"Now you're just being weird."

"Alright you two let's have a seat."

Riza remained standing as Sarah and Katie sat down. Roy cleared his throat before he began.

"Alright, now I want you to listen very carefully and don't interrupt till I'm done. I sent in my report this morning and I've already received a response from the Führer. Dr. Parry Vautour, the alchemist who pulled these two into this world, has been placed in Central Prison until his hearing a weeks or so from now. Roxanne Vautour, the baby that we found on sight at Parry's home, is being held at Central Hospital, though she is not in poor health. Seeing how Parry has no living relative that can care for the child, Roxanne will stay at the hospital until the hearing.

The issue on what we are going to do with Sarah and Katie is still being debated. One opinion is that Parry should be relieved of all charge so that he may work on sending them back. However, some of Parliament believes that his judgment should not be yielded so that he may clear up his own mess and that the girls should be given some military aid so that they may start a life here in Amestris. Others think that they should be issued as military property and ship them off to a lab or start put them in uniform. There are a bunch of different options floating around right now and Bradley has yet decided their fate.

Until a decision has been made we've been given some orders. Sarah, you'll be going with Edward. Bradley is interested in your world's science and alchemy. Also, he wants you to understand the dynamics of our world just in case you end up staying here. So you'll be going with Edward to discuss this. A room has already been set up for you with a chalkboard and books for your use. Katie, you will be interviewed by one of Bradley's men. I'm not really sure who it is but he'll be here within the hour. Also, it looks like I'm going to have to babysit you guys until some kind of final diction has been made. I can arrange for you to have your own dorm or you can continue to stay with Riza or someone else in my unit. Whichever one you are most comfortable with. I don't have everything planned out so we're just going to take one day at a time. Now, are there any questions?"

Sarah raised her hand.

"Put your hand down. This isn't a classroom."

"So, you're splitting Katie and me up?"

"Yes, just for a bit. After Katie's interview, she'll be joining you and Edward."

"Alright, I understand."

"Katie?"

"Uh yeah, why am I being interviewed and not Sarah?"

Roy gave a heavy sigh as he folded his hands and rested his chin in them, "I don't know. It's just how it worked out."

"But I wanted to go with Ed," Katie said, almost pouting, as she pointed her fingers together childishly.

"Ah, don't worry! I got a feeling we'll be seeing plenty of each other for the next few weeks," Edward replied, giving her a grin.

Katie returned it with a smile of her own.

~oOo~

"So, who is interviewing me," Katie asked, walking down the hall toward the room where she was to be questioned.

"We'll find out in a moment," Riza said as they turned the corner. Her face, however, twisted in disgust as she saw who was waiting for them outside of the questioning room. Riza quickly composed herself as she addressed the men, "Major Kimblee, Colonel Archer."


	4. Chapter 4

"_So, who is interviewing me," Katie asked, walking down the hall toward the room where she was to be questioned._

"_We'll find out in a moment," Riza said as they turned the corner. Her face, however, twisted in disgust as she saw who was waiting for them outside of the questioning room. Riza quickly composed herself as she addressed the men, "Major Kimblee, Colonel Archer."_

"_Good Morning, Lieutenant Hawkeye," Archer said, a smile spreading across his pale face._

"Oh Kami-sama. This cannot end well." Katie whispered to herself, her eyes widening as she looked at the two men standing in front of her. Her brain registered disgust as her gaze met Archer's and a mixture of emotions as she met Kimblee's.

The men turned their gaze upon the girl. While she was not visibly shaking, her eyes displayed just how uncomfortable she was. "Ah, so this is the girl that Dr. Vautour brought from the other dimension. How pleasant it is to meet you. I am Colonel Archer and this is Major Kimblee. We will be the ones in charge of your interview."

"Thank you so much for that obvious information Colonel Archer. I really had no idea who you were and why you were just standing there since Lieutenant Hawkeye said your names and I was coming to be interviewed. So you have my gratitude for that unneeded introduction." Katie snorted, her sarcastic side getting the better of her. Archer's smile quickly turned upside down and Kimblee arched an eyebrow. Riza gazed out the side of her eye in slight awe at the girl. She was either insane or very brave.

"Well then, let us start with the interview then. Lieutenant, you are dismissed." Kimblee said, finally speaking. Riza nodded her head, saluted her higher officers, and walked off, silently wishing Katie good luck as she went swimming with the sharks. As soon as Riza had disappeared from their line of sight, Archer turned on Katie.

"Now listen to me girl, you will answer the questions the first time you're asked and you will address me with respect. Is that clear?" Archer asked menacingly as he leered down at Katie.

Katie's eyes narrowed at him as she spat "I owe you no respect for you are not my better nor will I answer any questions if I do not feel like it." Kimblee sighed as he stalked forward towards the girl. As he neared her, Katie's body went stiff and still.

"I don't think you understand what we're saying little one. You will answer the question whether you wish to or not and you will address the Colonel and myself with respect. Is that understood?" Kimblee questioned softly as he gently stroked the sides of Katie's neck.

"Yes."

"Yes what?"

"Yes sir." Katie mumbled as her gaze dropped to the floor. She was clearly overpowered in this situation.

"See, that wasn't so hard, now was it?" Kimblee laughed as he dropped his hands and went back to Archer, who was smirking. "Now let's start, shall we?" Kimblee pushed the door open and motioned to the inside of the room. Katie walked forward and sat down in one of the chairs. Archer slid into his chair, folded his hands together in such a manner that it was clear to Katie that he knew he was in charge, and as Kimblee shut the door, she knew that this was not going to be easy or fun.

"Now to begin. What is your full name and your date of birth?"

"Katherine Reith Viverette and August 3rd, 1995."

Archer cocked an eyebrow. "Are you from the future? If not, where are you from?"

"No sir. I am from another dimension where this world and everyone in it is purely fictional."

Kimblee leaned forward, placing his chin upon clasped hands. "Fascinating. What are the last things you remember before arriving here?"

"I was eating lunch with my friends at school and we were goofing off. My friend, Sarah, and I clapped our hands together and pretended to open the gate between worlds. Suddenly, a bright light filled my vision and I was standing before a set of slowly opening doors with Sarah. Then a pair of hands reached through the doors, grabbed our arms, and pulled us through. That's the last thing I remember sir." Katie said unwillingly, spitting out the last part.

"Do you know any forms of combat and are you good with strategy?"

"I know a little of hand to hand, and I'm alright with swords or a Bo staff. Strategy is easy because all you have to do is anticipate all the different scenarios that your opponent might put into use. If you think of all the different factors and then adjust your men so that all the possibilities are eliminated you're practically guaranteed an easy victory. I've played many strategy games and I've read military journals, so I would say that I'm good with strategy." Katie replied, lifting her chin so that her eyes gleamed defiantly and proudly at the men.

Archer and Kimblee looked at each other and then back at Katie, smirking to themselves. "That's excellent Katherine. Now have you…."

~oOo~

"That is all, you may leave now." Archer said while leaning back in his chair, clearly happy with the way the interview went. Katie on the other hand was anxious to leave and it clearly showed. As she happily stood up and approached the door, Archer's voice box rang again. "Kimblee, why don't you escort Miss Katherine back to Mustang's office? That way she won't get lost."

Katie opened her mouth to protest, then quickly shut it, remembering what happened during the interview when she had protested to answering a question. Kimblee smirked down at Katie as he nodded at Archer and followed her out of the room. Kimblee and Katie walked side by side down the hallway, passing several other military personal who glanced nervously at Kimblee. Katie was deep in thought and didn't notice their nervous looks and would have gotten ran over by a frantic soldier who was pushing a large cart filled with all types of equipment if Kimblee hadn't grabbed her arm and pulled her out of the way at the last second. Katie awakened from her stupor to find her face pressed to Kimblee's chest. She immediately attempted to free herself from this awkward position and get out of his grasp, however all she managed to do was release herself enough to look up at Kimblee.

"M-Major Kimblee, w-would you please let go of me?" Katie stuttered out as her cheeks took on a light pink tint. Kimblee stared down at the anxious female in amusement and released almost all of her from his grip, except her upper arm. Katie still did not seem to like him touching her, so she asked again, only this time she asked a little more forcefully, "Please remove yourself from my arm sir."

"I don't think I will Katherine. Unless you wish to get hit next time or get to Mustang's office at a slower pace, I suggest you keep quiet and let me do what I wish. Or do you need another demonstration?" Kimblee suggested, smirking as her eyes grew wide and she shook her head frantically. He huffed and stalked down the crowded hallway that seemed to pause and part at his approach, dragging Katie along with him. In a short amount of time, they arrived at the Colonel's office. "Here you are Katherine. Now remember, you can't tell anyone about the questions, otherwise you might receive more 'gifts' from me, and while I would enjoy that, I doubt you would." His smirk fell slightly and Katie almost swore his ever burning eyes looked soft, but it disappeared quickly. He released her arm and with a sadistic smile walked back down the hallway, leaving Katie in a stupor.

Just as he was about to appear from her line of sight, she shouted, "It's Katie! Not Katherine!" Then she quickly opened the door, darted into the room, slammed the door behind her, and stared with emotionless eyes at the people in the room before crumpling to the ground, holding her upper left arm.

"I never want to go through that again."

* * *

Kit-Kat::okay. I feel really bed that I haven't updated in a month. So I'm going to be adding two chapters as an apology. Let me know what you think of them.


	5. Chapter 5

"Are you alright," Roy asked getting up from his seat at his desk. He knelt down in front of the girl and looked at her with concern. Katie's eyes were blank with mixed emotions that the Roy couldn't really read. Was she scared, simply surprise, or in shock?

"Katie, did something happen at the questioning?"

She remained quiet and still. She couldn't believe what had happened back there. At first the whole idea that she was in this world was an exciting and adventurous one. Now, however, she came to a sudden realization. This wasn't a playground, this was serious stuff. Sarah would have probably said something like, "I don't think we're in Kansas anymore, Toto."

Suddenly, Katie felt two glove hands rest on her shoulders. She looked up, and her eyes were met with a set of pure black ones.

"Are you alright? You really look shaken."

"I-I'm fine," Katie said. She stared up at him for a long moment, almost feeling comforted by his presence. However, Katie snapped out of her daze and roughly smacked Roy's hands away, remembering that this was Roy. "I don't need your help!"

Roy's face turned sour and he grinded his teeth together in frustration. "Well fine! Whatever, I'm just glad you got the stupid thing done," Roy said getting to his feet. Riza gave him a disapproved look as he sat back down in his chair. "Someone please escort the subject to the room where Sarah and Edward are speaking," Roy ordered unfeelingly, as he shuffled through his paper work. Katie scoffed at his childish behavior, disgusted by it, even though she herself had acted similar.

~oOo~

"- up to the 16th century, alchemy was considered serious science in Europe."

"What is Europe again?"

"Europe is this landmass, on the rough map I drew."

"Ok, continue."

"So the ideas of alchemy, such as attempt to change base metals into gold, were dismissed. It was replaced with modern inorganic chemistry, because of the factors we talked about earlier."

"Chemistry..?"

"Ah! I don't want to explain that! I only have so much knowledge. Ah, if I had a textbook or a computer…."

"A computer?"

"Don't worry. Was there anything you wanted talk further on with this topic?"

"I don't understand why you can't use alchemy in that world."

"You use a kind of natural energy to perform transformations right? Well energy doesn't flow like that in my world. You don't have the power to manipulate matter so easily."

Edward scribbled something down in his notebook, as the discussion was interrupted when the door to the room was opened.

"Oh, Katie. How are you," Sarah asked placing the piece of chalk in her hand down.

"Fine," Katie quickly lied, with a convincing smile. By the face Sarah made, Katie could tell she wasn't pleased with the answer but the older girl didn't press the subject. Katie entered the room, followed by Riza and Havoc.

"So what are you guys talking about?" Havoc asked leaning against the door frame, his cigarette hanging loosely from his mouth.

"We are covering the history of alchemy from Katie's and my world. Plus I'm…"

"Seriously! Yes, finally something exciting! Have you gone through all of it already? If not, can I please finish? It would be like presenting my history project all over again!" Katie interrupted by bounding over to Sarah and proceeding to grab her shoulders and shake her in excitement.

"I've already covered all the basics Katie and what I was trying to say was that I'm also teaching Ed about our mathematics system. So it's basically reviewing all the stuff we did in Geometry."

"Ahh. I wish that I had known that you would have been talking about alchemy's historical origins and such, I would've tried to get out of the interview sooner." Katie sighed as she sat down in a chair near the back corner of the small room, not too far away from everyone else yet far enough that there was about three feet between her and the closest person.

"It's alright Kit-Kat. Maybe if Ed wants to go over stuff again, you can give him all the details." Sarah smiled over at her friend, trying to get her to see the bright side.

"Sarah's right Katie, I'll have a lot of questions later, so I'll just come to you for details. How was the interview?" Ed grinned at the girl, getting her more relaxed and calm until that last part.

"Fine really, I guess. It went smoothly. Nothing really happened and it was a bit boring and slow with all the questions." Katie replied with a shrug of her shoulders. Riza looked at her in a quizzical manner.

"So Archer and Kimblee didn't try anything?"

This made Sarah's eyes widen as she stared at Katie. "Your interviewers were Archer and Kimblee and you say that the interview went smoothly? How are you still in one piece?"

"What? Those two sadistic bastards were the people who interviewed you? What happened while you were in there?" Ed roared at the girl as he stood up, knocking over his chair in the process, and strode in her direction until he stood beside Sarah, directly in front of Katie.

"Great the cat's out of the bag. I was really hoping that you wouldn't have to know about that small detail. Ha-ha" Katie tried to laugh the comments off as her right arm scratched the back of her head.

"Did they do anything to you!" Edward seemed angry at the mere mention of those two's names.

"W-well, no," Katie said, hesitantly. Another lie, but no one said anything about it. Whether one didn't notice or just decided to ignore it, wasn't clear.

"What kind of questions did they ask you?"

"I was ordered not to talk about it."

Edward scratched his scalp in frustration as Havoc spoke up.

"The important thing is that you're alright."

"Exactly," Sarah pointed out, as she walked back over to the chalk board, "But to think you got to met Archie and Kibble. I'm kind of jealous."

"Why would you ever want to met them," Havoc asked in surprise, after shaking off the confusion of the nicknames Sarah had given the two.

"Hmm, well I just want to see all of my favorite characters. I mean, they are such awesome villains. I'm sure Kit-Kat understands."

"Yeah, I just wish I could have seen them in a different situation. That interview was just scary," Katie said, light heartedly. It seemed that she was returning to her normal playful self. Edward smiled in relief.

"So, I guess Hawkeye and I will leave you to your work if everything is ok."

"You guys don't have to go, Havoc. It's alright if you stay," Sarah said quickly.

"Nah, it's alright. I'm not much for that science stuff."

"Well be sure to come back."

The lieutenant's eyes softened as a sweet smile spread across his face, "Okay."

Riza and Jean shuffled out of the room, closing the door quietly behind them. Sarah turned back to Ed and Katie. "Shall we continue?"


	6. Chapter 6

Hours passed slowly, and by now the sun had painted the sky a mix of orange and purple. A small group had gather outside; Roy, Riza, Havoc, and the others, watched in awe as Katie and Sarah were about to make their first transmutation. The demonstration began as Edward's voice hit the warm summer air.

"Comprehension."

"Comprehension. Understanding the inherent structure and properties of the atomic or molecular makeup of a particular material to be transmuted, including the flow and balance of potential and kinetic energy within," the girls said together, both of their eyes closed in concentration.

"Deconstruction."

"Deconstruction," the girls said and clapped their hands together, not needing a transmutation circle because they had passed through The Gate, "Using energy to break down the physical structure of the identified material into a more malleable state so as to be easily reshaped into a new form."

"Reconstruction."

"Reconstruction. Continuing the flow of energy so as to reform the material into a new shape."

The girls parted their hand and pressed them to the ground.

"Remember your breathing," Edward commanded, as the two girls started their transmutation.

"Breathe out when you pull the trigger, like firing a rifle," Sarah muttered to herself. Katie over heard her and glance over at her friend. A mask of complete seriousness had come over the older girl's face. A blue alchemic light flashed from underneath their hands and the twos transmutations rose up. Sarah conjured a glass vase, using the sand particles in the soil. It was a simple design, but there were some rough patches of transmutation. Katie brought forth a small sculpture using what resembled red Georgia clay. The sculpture looked like a perfect replica of the Taj Mahal. A small applause was issued as the two finished.

"That was great for your first try! You guys will have it perfected in no time!" Ed exclaimed excitedly. The others came up to congratulate the girls on their excellent first transmutation. Havoc eyed Sarah, the girl that was smiling victoriously. Her warm presence seemed to bubble up with in any and everyone around her. Her smile made him smile and with that Havoc stirred up his courage and sauntered up to Sarah.

"Hey Sarah, I was wondering if…."

"I was wondering if you would kindly join me for the evening Sarah." However, Havoc's courage seemed to be in vain when Roy interrupted him and walked up to Sarah, stepping in front of Havoc. His dark eyes setting fire to Sarah's brown ones. She nodded her head shyly and blushed a lovely pink, unable to speak with Mustang so close. Havoc's shoulders fell, causing Roy to grin. Jean wondered if it was Roy's personal goal to rid his life of all happiness.

Mustang began to lead Sarah away when she turned and asked, "Havoc, you were going to ask the same thing right? Why don't you come with us?" Havoc smirked like a maniac as he ran over to where Sarah was standing next to a sputtering Roy.

"Hey Roy, Havoc, you guys better bring her back in one piece. Don't do anything too extreme Sarah." Katie laughed.

"We won't Kit-Kat. Ed, you and Al better make sure that she's alright. Kit-Kat, don't attack Ed again." Sarah called back as she, Havoc, and Roy walked away, heading it to town. Katie's eyes went wide and she blushed.

"S-Sarah! That only happened because I was over excited!" Katie screeched, her face becoming redder by the minute.

Ed laughed and said "Don't worry Sarah. We'll take good care of her. Hey, wait…Al where did she go?" He and Al looked around quickly before spotting Katie running in the direction of Riza's apartment. "Katie, get back here!" Sarah laughed at the scene before it disappeared from sight.

~oOo~

Havoc had continuously been attempting to talk to Sarah, but whenever he opened his mouth to speak, Mustang would interrupt and say something that was charming or made her laugh. Havoc's deadly glare silently attacked the Colonel over Sarah's head. Roy just smirked the entire time, completely unfazed by the lieutenant's feeble attacks. Havoc finally decided that he had enough and was going to interrupt his supervisor.

"Hey Sarah, what…"

BAM!

Havoc fell down on his butt holding his head. He had been so distracted, that he had walked into a pole. He heard Roy laughing and footsteps quickly approaching.

"Havoc, are you alright?" a concerned voice questioned. He lifted his gaze to find that Sarah was crouching down right in front of him, her hand gently touching his head. Their gaze locked and Havoc became lost in the depths of her big brown eyes.

"Y-Yeah, I-I'm just fine Sarah." He said standing up yet never breaking eye contact with her. Sarah smiled up at him as Mustang came up and wrapped an arm around her shoulder. Sarah took note of the gestures, but did have much response. She was used to this kind of gesture at least.

"Good to see you can stand Havoc. Now why don't we go get something to eat, if you're done running into poles that is," Roy turned away from Havoc and looked Sarah in the eyes. "I know of a nice cafe near here. It's called Reverie and it's…"

"You don't want to go there Sarah, they serve the most disgusting food in Central. Now Jack's has some delicious food. Why don't we go there instead?" Havoc asked Sarah as he wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her closer to him. Sarah blushed upon being almost up against his chest.

"Don't listen to Havoc Sarah, he doesn't know what he's talking about." Roy threw fire from his eyes as he glared at Havoc, closing the space that had been created between him and Sarah, causing her to be tightly in between the two guys.

"You'll have a lot more fun at Jack's Sarah. The people there are really friendly."

"We're going to Reverie and that's final."

"Jack's"

"Reverie"

"Jack's"

"Reverie"

"Jack's"

"Guys! Why don't we just eat there?" Sarah pointed to a restaurant across from where they were standing. The customers were dressed casually enough that they wouldn't stand out. Havoc and Roy looked at each other, the restaurant, then down at Sarah.

"Alright, if the lady so wishes it, then that is where we shall eat." Havoc said, taking one of the lines Roy used to steal his last girlfriend and twisting it slightly. He smiled when it caused Sarah to laugh and Roy to glare.

Sarah decided that this was no longer an innocent time out on the town, but some kind of person battle between men. She breathed a heavy sigh as she strolled toward the building.

They walked into the restaurant, which was called Fizzante, and got a table for three. After looking across their menu's for a few minutes the waiter came to take their order.

"I'll have the flaming barbecue burger and a bottle of Perrier to drink." Roy handed the waiter his menu as he finished his order.

"I'll have the smoking teriyaki wings and some Dominion to drink." Havoc handed his menu to the waiter as well. The waiter nodded his head at the two gentlemen and turned to the girl.

"What will you be having?"

"She'll be having the-"

"-pasta gateway with-"

"-Excai to drink."

Havoc and Roy answered while interrupting each other. Sarah just nodded her head in agreement and handed the waiter her menu.

"Your order will be ready in a few minutes." The waiter scurried towards the kitchen as the trio engaged one another.

"So what exactly did you two order me?"

"The pasta gateway is a delectable dish that has five different types of pasta."Roy answered smoothly.

"And the Excai is one of the most excellent alcoholic drinks in Central. It's fruity yet tangy at the same time." Havoc added in, not wanting to be excluded.

Sarah nodded her head in understanding. She had had some alcohol before, in the other world, and it hadn't done anything to her, so this was probably safe. A few minutes later, the waiter came back with their meals and drinks, setting down a tall glass filled with a pink, purple colored drink that also came with a refill bottle. If they served this much, then it was probably harmless.

"This..Hiccup..was..Hiccup..so…Hiccup..fun." Sarah giggled, her words slurring. She had consumed all of the glass and the refill bottle saying that it was the best thing she had ever tasted in her life. Roy's eyebrows knit together in concern, realizing that he and Havoc had forgotten to mention that Excai was also very strong. While he had only a little to drink and wasn't tipsy at all, the same could not be said for Havoc. He had drank five bottles of beer and was on the verge of passing out. The waiter came with the check, which Roy paid, and then wished them a good night as the three left.

On the way out, Havoc and Sarah walked together talked and humming in merry drunken bliss. They seemed to be enjoying each other's company. Roy eyed the lieutenant; his senses dulled by alcohol, and decided to take advantage of the situation. "Havoc, get yourself home. I'll take care of Sarah." Roy stated calmly to the intoxicated man who was swaying left and right. He said this knowing that Havoc probably wouldn't entirely understood what he was saying. Havoc nodded his head. "Toodles. I'll see you tomorrow," Havoc said, giving Sarah a sideways hug, making her giggle, and walked across the street, turning left in the direction of where he lived. Roy turned to Sarah who was stumbling every step and muttering about evil, pink, rabid plot bunnies that were bent on destroying snails.

"Sarah, Sarah, can you still understand me?"

The girl in question took one look at him and replied "You're hot" before collapsing against the Colonel. He sighed and swung her up in his arms bridal style and walked towards his apartment, it was closer than Riza's and there was no way he was taking her there in this condition. He didn't want Katie to kill him. He unlocked his door single handedly, closed it behind him, and walked into his room where he sat down on his bed, holding a sleeping Sarah. He looked down at the girl, elated that he could look at her this closely without repercussions. Roy made sure to admire her lovely features: smooth olive skin, naturally colored lips, womanly curves that somehow matched her young body, and of course her short Burnett hair that curled slightly at the bottom. She really was attractive. Perhaps his little game with Havoc wasn't a total waste: look at the prize that lay before him. He took off one of his gloves and ran it through her soft brown locks. Sarah reacted to this by tucking her face into his neck and nuzzling it with her nose as she cuddled with him.

"Roy" she mumbled. Roy looked at the precious girl he cradled in his arms in wonderment. Did she know what was going on? Or is it possible that she was dreaming about him? He hoped that it was the second one as he kicked off his boots and lay down, hugging Sarah to his chest as he pulled the blankets over them.

"Pleasant dreams Sarah." He whispered into her ear. He kissed her lightly on the forehead and buried his face in her hair, quickly falling asleep to her calm breathing and intoxicating scent.


	7. Chapter 7

Ok. I realize that I haven't updated in three months...I have no good excuse to provide except for the fact that I simply forgot...I'M SO SORRY! PLEASE DON'T BE SUPER ANGRY!...ok I'm done now. On with the long awaited update.

* * *

_Sarah heard voices in the background, causing her to open her eyes. She squinted in the bright light for a moment before looking around at a room that seemed familiar yet unrecognized. Wasn't she just with Roy and Havoc though?_

_"Well, looks like you're awake. So you're one of the girls who came through the gate. I don't know why she wants you though. You don't look like anything special to me." A voice rang out from her left. Sarah turned her head and what she saw made her eyes grow. Standing there in front of her was Greed. Suddenly, everything clicked. She was in the Devil's Nest. Had the Homunculi captured her? Where was Katie? Were Roy, Havoc, and the others alright? Greed chuckled as he watched the girl's eyes grow in fear. "Yes, be afraid, you have every right. Now let's find out what makes you so special shall we?" He bent down and grabbed Sarah by the shoulders, slamming her into the wall. The way he looked at her made her shriek in absolute terror._

Sarah shot up in bed screaming bloody murder as she saw another room she didn't recognize. The door to the room slammed open, revealing a certain Colonel who had on no shirt. He ran to her side.

"Sarah, Sarah calm down. It's alright. It was just a nightmare." He cooed to her as he cradled her to his bare, muscular chest. After a few minutes, Sarah calmed down and pulled back slightly, looking up at Roy. She noticed that he wasn't wearing his gloves since his bare hands were touch her arms and back. As they gazed into the other's eyes, she became transfixed with his as he had with hers. Without either of them realizing it, they were leaning forward, their eyes sliding closed.

CRASH!

"Roy! I'm going to CASTRATE you!" An angry red blur shouted as she tackled Roy to the ground. He pushed Katie off of him before sliding on his gloves.

"Katie calm down." He said, attempting to reason with the raging female in front of him.

"No way in HELL buddy!" she screamed before clapping her hands together and pressing them to the wall, creating two blades with alchemy. She yelled before lunging towards Roy.

"Katie, cut it out!" Ed yelled, rushing into the room, Al right behind him.

"Katie, please listen to brother. Being angry will not help in this situation."

"For once, I agree with the shrimp. Just calm down brat and I won't have to hurt you." Roy smirked as he dodged another swing.

"Who are you calling short enough to do a tap dance on a mouse's head? Kick his butt Katie!" Ed ranted, cheering on the enraged girl.

Roy glanced over at the Elrics, seeing Ed in a fit and Al attempting to calm him, before turning back to Katie and barely ducking one of the blades. "Katie, please just listen to me. I have an excellent explanation as to why I didn't bring her home last night." Roy stated as Katie dodged a column of flame.

"Then tell me already!"Katie screeched standing a few feet from Roy, swords held in a defensive position, in case he should attack.

"Look, all that happened was that while we were showing the town to Sarah, we stopped at a restaurant to eat, and she had too much to drink."Roy calmly stated, hoping that the angry fire ball that was Katie, in front of him would cool off. A moment of silence filled the room before the angry fire ball appeared to calm down. She put her swords on the ground and walked up to Roy.

"Is that the truth, Colonel?" She questioned severely, her eyes still burning with the fires of hell.

"Yes. That's all that happened…wait did you call me Colonel?" Roy asked, the edges of his mouth twisting up into a smirk. So the girl had finally acknowledged his rank and by doing so, had recognized that he was above her. As, Roy was thinking, Katie took a step back and turned towards Sarah. She took one step forward and then suddenly pivoted backwards.

CRASH!

When Katie had pivoted, her fist came flying forward and connected with Roy's face, launching him into the wall. A slight coating of dust floated around the room as Roy slowly stood up, his nose bleeding and his eye stinging like crazy.

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR?" He screamed at the young girl who was walking towards Sarah. Katie turned her head and looked at him over her shoulder.

"That was for allowing Sarah to drink alcohol and get drunk when she's not even over the drinking age. SHE'S FRICKIN 17 ROY!"

"S-seventeen!" Roy said shocked and confused.

"Eighteen, in December," Sarah stated in a matter of fact way, "I'm practically an adult."

Katie rolled her eyes as Roy continued to try to compute that Sarah was as young as Katie claimed, "She's that young…and I…and last night…"

As Roy continued to babble to himself, Katie turning her attention back to her friend who was sitting on the Colonel's bed, clutching her head. She was no doubt experiencing a terrible hangover. She gently sat down beside Sarah and reached into her pocket to grab something. "Here Sarah, take these." Katie handed Sarah a small bottle containing medicine. Sarah took one look at the bottle before attacking it, gouging the lid open, and grabbing three of the pills and swallowing them. She closed the lid and handed the bottle back to Katie.

"Thanks Kit-Kat. Those will probably help with the head-ache once they kick in," Sarah stated with a small smile on her face, "I totally feel like a herd of elephants just preformed Cirque du Soleil's Corteo on my skull." Katie laughed and Sarah continued, "So, you know what I did yesterday. What happened to you?"

"N-Nothing much." Katie whispered, her eyes glancing towards Ed, a small pink blush appearing on her cheeks. Sarah's grin became like that of a small child getting the present they wanted on Christmas morning.

"You're telling me once we get back to Riza's Kit-Kat. Whether you want to or not," Sarah sang, attempting to stand up, but her legs turned to jelly and she flopped down on the bed. Katie sighed, knowing that one of the guys was going to have to carry Sarah back to Riza's apartment.

"I'll carry her Katie." Roy said stepping forward; he had somehow found his shirt and his face looked worse than it did a few minutes ago. He was definitely going to have a black eye by the end of the day. Katie huffed before standing quickly.

"Alright. Just don't try anything."She stated before stepping back to allow Roy to pick Sarah up. Ed and Al walked up to Katie.

"Are you alright Katie?" Al asked worriedly.

"Yeah I'm just fine. I don't think I got burned while fighting Roy. If anything, I'm a little tired."

"Well what do expect? You were up extremely early this morning pacing and worrying your head off." Ed quipped, shaking his head and putting a hand on her shoulder. They all left Roy's half dead apartment and started off to Riza's. The trek was quiet since nobody seemed to want to disturb the slight peace that had fallen over them. Soon though, they were at Riza's door. Ed stepped forward and knocked, Riza opening the door before his hand was even back down at his side. She ushered everyone in before quickly closing the door and turning to face the small party.

"Where can I put Sarah down?" Roy asked, breaking the tense silence.

"In the back bedroom," Riza answered. Roy nodded and took Sarah to the room, gently set her down on the bed, smiled at her, and left the room. He walked back out in time to hear Katie say "Roy let Sarah get drunk and she's under the drinking age."

When Riza turned to Roy angrily, Katie decided that she should go talk with Sarah. She walked into their shared room and quietly shut the door. She walked over to the bed and sat down beside Sarah who excitedly grabbed her arm.

"What happened yesterday Kit-Kat?"Sarah questioned with glee.


	8. Chapter 8

_"What happened yesterday Kit-Kat?"Sarah questioned with glee._

~Flashback~

"Katie! Wait up!"

Katie continued run toward Riza's place at full speed. She had to get there before Edward caught up to her.

Black Hayate barked happily as Katie opened the door to Riza's apartment. She walked passes the excited dog as she headed to the bathroom. The girl found the first aid kit quickly. After the interview with Archer and Kimblee, she hadn't had the chance to fix herself up. Those two hadn't exactly been as gentle as kittens. Katie took off her shirt and examined the bruises. She was at least glad the times he had stroked her on the face hadn't left marks. She knew that Archer was violent and Kimblee was a sadistic psycho, but no one ever thinks that these things could happen to them. She opened the first aid kit and started to tend to her injures.

"Ah, she runs fast," Edward huffed, leaning against the door frame. "Brother, wearing a coat and gloves in the middle of the summer probably doesn't help," Alphones said standing behind his brother. Edward ignored his brother's comment as he caught his breath, stood up straight, and opened the door to the apartment. "Katie!" Edward's voice echoed. "I'll be there in a minute!" Within no time, Katie walked out of the bathroom and headed toward the door where Edward was.

"What was that all about?"

"Oh, you know just had to get ready."

Edward's eyes rolled over Katie, "…..but you look exactly the same."

"How rude Edward. Come on Alphones, let's go get some ice-cream," Katie said, grabbing Alphones's metal hand and dragging him out the door.

"Uh, well…ok," Alphones muttered shyly.

Edward's hurriedly stomped after them, "Hey! Wait for me!"

~oOo~

The trio sat down on a bench near Central Gardens. Although it was now evening, the last streak of sunlight just now disappearing from the sky as the lamppost slowly lit up one by one, it was still humid out. "Ah, it's melting," Edward complained, as chocolate ice-cream dripped from the cone. "Well just lick it off," Katie said, enjoying her own vanilla flavored ice-cream. Although hesitant at first, Edward tilted his head to the side and slowly ran his tongue up the cone in an attempt to stop the sticky snack from getting on his gloves. "What are you looking at," Edward questioned, when he finished and found that Katie had been watching him. "Nothing," she replied, her cheeks full of color as she quickly looking away. She brought her gaze back up to him once she had composed herself.

"It's just I'm surprised you're eating ice-cream, seeing on how you hate milk and all."

"Ice-cream and milk are two different things!"

"Not really. Ice-cream is just milk, sugar, and flavorings."

"Milk taste nasty!"

"I thought you didn't like milk because it is an opaque, white liquid secreted by a cow."

"That too!"

Alphones laughed, amused by the two's argument. Edward paused as if in thought, then looked over at Katie.

"…how did you know I didn't like milk?"

"Because I'm from another dimension where this world is nothing but fictional literature."

Edward nodded, turning his gaze up to the night sky, as if reflecting on her words. They finished the rest of their evening treat in silence.

"Well I guess we should be heading back," Edward said, stretching as he got to his feet.

"What," Katie exclaimed getting to her feet, "The night is young!"

Edward blinked a few times, not really having a response.

"Come on Edward, we're all gonna go out and have fun like normal teenagers."

"Are you saying I'm not normal?" Edward seemed to be a little upset by this.

"Edward," Katie started, making a face, "you're a fifteen, sixteen year old kid whose everyday life is an adventure."

"Haha, well, uh, what do..," Edward started, sounding embarrassed that he was even asking this question, "What do normal kids do?"

"I don't know."

"What do you mean you don't know?"

"Well, I'm not really normal ether. I like to go to the library for fun."

"That doesn't sound too bad actually," Edward said, smiling.

"The library would be closed by now," Alphones said, speaking up.

"Well what about the movie theater," Katie questioned.

"Uh…"

"You know: the pictures, the flicks, the flea pit, the big screen, the cinema."

"I haven't been to a moving picture show in a long time," Alphones said, sounding excited.

"Let's go then," Katie shouted happily.

"And maybe we can go to the music hall afterwards," Al added on.

The two were really getting into it.

"Hey, wait! I didn't agree to any of this," Edward said.

"Let's get going Ed," Katie and Al said in stereo as they each grabbed one of Ed's arms and started heading into town.

~oOo~

"I thought it was so cool that the pianist was right there in the theater!"

"That's not normal in your world?"

"No, in fact that was my first silent film!"

"That's cool. What did you think?"

"I liked the part when the alchemist got turned into half-bug half human creature, when the fly got caught up in his transmutation!"

"Big brother, did you like the film?"

"Huh? Uh yeah, it was great," Edward said. Alphones went back to talking to Katie and Edward couldn't help but smile. Katie looked over at him occasionally, wondering if he was ok.

The three soon arrived at the music hall. A local band was playing as people danced to the sound of upbeat jazz.

"Katie, d-do you..," Alphones started, rubbing the back of his head embarrassed.

Katie smiled and dragged Alphones over to the floor. They started dancing as a new song started. Edward snickered from the sidelines, watching them. "What are you guys doing," he asked humorously.

"What is that supposed to mean," Katie said.

"Well you're dancing like a little kid: holding both each other's hands and prancing around."

"Brother, it's hard to do much else when you're a seven foot tall suit of armor."

"Yeah, and maybe I enjoy prancing around like a child," Katie added, "Besides, I would like to see you do better, Shorty."

"Is that a challenge!"

"Maybe."

"Well, bring it! Al, let me show this missy how it's done!"

Al changed places with Edward. Katie fell into a regular dance formation, this much she was used too, but as Ed wrapped an arm around her waist and she put her hand on his shoulders she felt her face turn red. She did her best to hide it. The world around them faded, it seemed. Katie couldn't even hear the music anymore, only the sound of her heart drumming in her ears. They were standing so close, bodies touching. He was looking directly into her eyes and she felt the urge to yank her gaze away, but she was locked on and completely lost in perfect pools of gold. At one point the song stopped and the spell was broken as a warm smile came across his face.

"W-we, i-it's getting late," Katie stammered, pulling away from Edward, as she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. Her face was a red as her hair. Katie hurried out of the building. The brothers followed close behind.

~oOo~

"Al, I'll catch up in a min," Edward said to his brother. Alphones stopped and looked at his older brother, reading his face. "Alright, good night Katie," he replied after a moment, then turned and headed toward where he and Ed were staying. Edward turned to Katie once his brother was out of sight.

"Thank you for tonight."

"Huh?"

"Well, I haven't seen Alphones look so happy in a really long time, not ever since we lost mom." He paused for a moment, his brow wrinkling at the memory. "He really needed it."

"You needed it too, Ed."

Edward looked up, to be met by Katie's smile. He returned it.

"I did have fun. You were right. I'd never really done that kind of thing before: going out, having fun like that, spending time with a girl."

"I had fun too."

There was an awkward moment, where no one was sure what they should do next, though ideas ran across their minds.

"Well….. good night."

"Good night, Ed."

Katie opened the door to Riza's apartment and escaped inside. She threw herself on her and Sarah's bed, burying her blushing face in the pillows. Unintentionally, she soon fell asleep from emotional exhaustion, her thoughts too occupied to wonder where Sarah had gone missing: at least not until morning.

~End Flashback~

"My little Kit-Kat's growing up!" Sarah crooned as Katie's face took on a light pink tint.

"S-Shut up Sarah, the feelings probably aren't mutual. This will most likely end up the same way as it did with Chris and me." Katie's eyes turned sad, as she remembered a boy that was back in the real world, but a smile remained on her face. "He'll see me as a good friend while I have a hopeless crush on him," Katie sighed looking away.

"Katie, don't say that sort of thing. I mean, look where we are! It's obvious to me that anything is possible at this point. We are here in the FMA world and we should enjoy ourselves, right?" Sarah said, attempting lighten the red head's mood.

"You're absolutely right Sarah," Katie smiled.

CRASH!

"I think I better go save Roy. Since he didn't mean to do any harm to you," Katie huffed, a small smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.

"Are you feeling alright? You just said you're going to help Mustang?" Sarah scrutinized. Katie just smiled and shook her head as she opened the bedroom door and walked out. Upon entering the living room, her smile grew as she saw an angry Riza glaring at Roy. Katie went into the kitchen, grabbed one of the hand towels from a drawer, and got some ice from the freezer and rolled it into the towel. She walked past Riza and squatted down next to the somber Colonel.

"Here, you need to put this on your left eye. I think I hit you a bit too hard. After having this on your eye for a few minutes, rotate it to another place where you're hurting. When the ice melts, just let me know and I'll get more. Ok?" Katie asked softly to the wary Colonel. He carefully took the ice pack from her and looked at her.

"Why are you being nice to me?" He questioned, eyes narrowing to mere slits. Katie stood up and put her hands behind her back.

"First, you didn't intentionally hurt Sarah. Second, she's still in one piece, both physically and mentally. Third, I feel sorry for attacking you without justification. So I apologize for that." Katie stated smiling slightly. Roy's mouth just hung open for a while before he grumbled and put the ice on his eye. Katie spun around however when she heard clapping.

"Wow Kit-Kat. When you said you were going to help him, I honestly didn't think you would. So good for you" Sarah gleefully chirped as she leaned slightly on the couch in Riza's living room.

Katie's eyes widened at the appearance of her friend. "Sarah, are you alright? You shouldn't be up!" She hurried over to her friend, acting like a frightened hen.

"I'm fine Kit-Kat. The medicine's finally kicked in. Stop being such a mother hen." Katie pouted for a moment and was about to respond when Riza interrupted.

"Do you have any other clothes?" Riza questioned though she already knew the answer. Sarah and Katie looked at each other and then at Riza, shaking their heads. Riza turned to the Colonel. "Sir, I think we should take the girls shopping. This way they will have what they need."

Mustang rose from his position in a thoughtful manner. "I agree Lieutenant. The girls must have proper attire for their stay here." He stated, a gleam appearing in his eyes and a smirk plastering itself onto his face.


	9. Miniskirts!

Alright. I'm planning to post a new chapter every two weeks. I'm hoping that everyone who reads this story and enjoys it will review it cause it makes Wishes and I happy. Go ahead and review even if you don't like it. I don't mind being flamed so long as it's done in a constructive criticism way.

* * *

Right after the group had left the apartment, Roy took off, saying something about a gift for the girls. Riza, Edward, Alphonse, Sarah, and Katie had been wandering around the central, looking at all the boutiques. Sarah and Katie both had their feminine necessities, which they made Ed and Al wait a few shops down so they wouldn't be traumatized, though Katie's face was very red by the time they rejoined them. Sarah had been able to buy a few shirts and pants, but it seemed Katie was more interested in the bookshops then in getting new clothes as they had to drag her away from yet another store.

"Katie, stop trying to go into every bookshop you see. Get your clothes first and then you can get a book." Sarah said, agitation seeping clearly into every word.

"Fine," Katie huffed, crossing her arms. She realized that it wasn't smart to annoy Sarah anymore than she already had or else she would be in a lot of trouble. Katie turned to Riza. "Is there a fabric store anywhere near here?"

Riza looked down at her in a quizzical manner. "Yes, there's one right around the corner."

"Thanks, that's all I needed to hear." Katie said as she took off running. She ran down the street and around the corner, weaving her way through the throng of people. Just as Riza had said, the fabric shop was right there as she turned the corner. She smiled and walked in. As she went up and down the aisles of fabrics, she would grab one or two. After getting as many as possible into her arms, she went up to the register.

"Hello. Do you want the entire bolt or just a few yards?" The cashier asked.

"Three yards of these, Five yards of these, and Seven yards of this one here please," Katie requested, smiling up at the cashier. The cashier nodded her head, cut the fabrics, put them into some bags, and collected Katie's money.

"Have a nice day." She called out as Katie bounded out of the store, back to where her friends were.

"What were you doing in a fabric store Katie? You need clothes that are already made. You can't sew all that together fast enough." Sarah chided the young girl as she came back.

"Sarah, you've read all the FMA manga right?"

"Yes"

"FMA volume 21, chapter 85, page 77. Ed gets some red fabric and transmutes it into a coat. I can just do the same thing, except for shirts and pants." Katie stated simply.

"D-did you just remember exactly where that part was? Do you remember what panel it was?"

"Sarah-"

"I guess that's one way of getting the cloths you want, huh?" Sarah asked her friend, but relived that she had disappeared. "Kit-Kat? Where did she-? Wait-," she turned to the others, "Book store?" They nodded their heads in response. Katie came back out within a few moments however with another bag just as the Colonel appeared.

"Is all the shopping done? I have a gift for you." Roy stated, not even waiting for an answer to his question, holding out two bags, one was blue and the other was red. He handed the red one to Sarah and the blue one to Katie. Both the girls opened the bags quickly and had different reactions. Sarah smiled and laughed while Katie looked at the item inside disgustedly.

"I'm never wearing this." Katie stated as she tried to hand the bag back to Roy.

"Yes you are. Both of you will wear those when you come to the office after putting all your new clothes away."

"What makes you think I'll listen to you? I've never worn one of these before in my life and I don't plan to wear one now."

Roy gasped and a horrified look appeared on his face. "It's terrible that you haven't had the pleasure to wear one of these beautiful creations before. They are the best things in the world."

"You're really odd and perverted, you know?" Katie asked exasperated. Roy didn't hear her however.

"And the reason you will want to wear it is because it is finally being decided whose jurisdiction you girls will be under and I might be able to make sure that the two of you stay together and are put under my jurisdiction. That might not be the case though if you don't wear it." Roy stated, whispering the last part in Katie's ear. He pulled back and looked at the rest of the group, smirked, and walked off.

~oOo~

"Sir, the girls are here." Riza stated as she stepped into Mustang's office, where Havoc, Falman, Fuery, Ed, and Al were talking with Roy about the situation. Sarah stepped into the room right behind Riza wearing a dark blue miniskirt and a light blue shirt that had brown designs on it. Havoc's jaw dropped, causing his cigarette to fall out. Roy just smirked at the sight in pleasure, his eyes rolling over her.

"Hello Sarah, nice to see you. I like the skirt. Where's Katie?" Roy questioned, his smirk growing larger. He knew that Katie would wear hers and wouldn't take the chance of being separated from her friend.

"She was right behind me…" Sarah started to say, turning around to the door "Kit-Kat, get in here. You look fine, and stop pulling at it." Sarah declared as she stalked over to the door, reached into the hallway, and half-dragged the other girl in. Katie stumbled into the room wearing a black miniskirt and a green and blue swirled long sleeve t-shirt that was made out of a thin cotton material.

"I feel so stupid wearing this." She huffed, looking away from everyone, her face turning pink once again.

"Well you don't look stupid," Edward said from his chair.

"Yeah, it looks great," Alphones added on.

Katie didn't say anything, her face still flushed with color, as she attempted to hide herself behind Sarah.

"Hey Roy, thanks for this. I've wanted to get her in a skirt that went above her knees forever," Sarah said with a smile.

"Sarah!" Katie shouted while hitting her friend repeatedly. Sarah only laughed while she swatted away Katie's throws.

The boys watched the girls cute fighting, completely entertained by it. Then Roy cleared his throat, "Alright let's get back to business."

"One of my subordinates has informed me that Dr. Perry's trial date has been decided. He's supposed to be arriving here shortly to explain the-"

At that moment the colonel was interrupted when his office door flung open. A tall, mean man galloped into the room, holding a vanilla envelope. "Guess what Roy! I just picked up my newly developed pictures of Elicia! You got to see these!"

"Hughes!" The name had been said at once by two people. Roy said it with irritation while Sarah said it with shock, standing up from her chair, eyes wide with shock. The room was silent for a moment as Maes returned the girl's stare with confusion. "Do I know you," he asked. At that moment, tears weld up in the corner of the girl's eyes. She seemed to sail across the room as she threw her arms around, almost knocking the poor man down as she buried her crying face in his coat.

"I'm so happy to see you," she sobbed, her words half muffled by the fabric. "I'm so glad you're alive, "she whispered the last bit, almost to herself, but Hughes heard her. At first he was surprised by this strange girl he had never met before hugging him out of nowhere. He reacted how a father would. He adjusted his rectangular glasses so that they were framed in front of his hazel colored eyes once again. "Of course I'm here," he said comfortingly as he patted her head, "why wouldn't I be?"

"Sarah," Katie started. "It's obvious that our presence here has altered the story plot. That's why Hughes and Archer are both here at the same time."

Sarah pulled away from Hughes, wiping her nose.

"Sarah, would you like to see some picture of my adorable daughter Elicia?"

"Absolutely!"

"Hughes," Roy growled.

"Alright, alright. Later then, "Hughes took a post standing in front of Roy's desk, "the trail will be tomorrow.

"Tomorrow?" Roy exclaimed, slamming his hands down on his desk. "I was told that the trial was a few weeks away!"

"Well, the higher ups decided that this case was of great importance, so they moved the court date to tomorrow." Hughes stated, being serious for once. "The girls are required to be there both as evidence and as witnesses for Perry's crimes, Roy, you need to be there since they've been under your observation since their arrival and Ed is needed because he's very well acquainted with Perry. Everyone else may attend, but their presence is not required."

"Is anyone else of importance going to be at the trial?" Katie asked curiously. Hughes turned to her with a grim look.

"Yes, the officers who interviewed you will be there to give their reports on whether or not it's a good idea to allow you to stay in Amestris, and Bradley will be attending as well."

"The Führer's coming! Why? What interest could he have…." Roy started to say, but then trailed off, thinking of all the things the girls knew and how that knowledge could be used.

"Oh, and any items that came here with the girls are needed as evidence, so we need to retrieve any items you may have brought from your world," Hughes said, addressing the girls.

"Do we need to get them right now," Katie asked.

"Yes, I've been ordered to collect these pieces of evidence before the trial and hold on to them until tomorrow, which means-," Hughes started, then a playful smile appeared on his face, "- you two will be coming with me."


	10. The Hughes Family

This is for Riia Kurayami, who was the first reviewer since the update two weeks ago. Thank you for reviewing. Hope to see more of them.

* * *

The two girls went to Riza's house to gather their things and then were quickly dragged away by Hughes towards his house, leave the others behind.

"You guys are gonna love my Elicia," Hughes sang as he walked down the streets of Central, both of the girls at each of his sides.

"Of course we will," Katie said, carrying her bat-pack Elric and a grocery bag with her and Sarah's clothes from their world.

"She's the most adorable little angel in the world," Sarah shouted, throwing her arms up in the arm. She was carrying a canvas bag with a change of clothes along with some P.J.s for her and Katie.

Hughes turned his gaze to Sarah with a twinkle in his eye, "You understand!" Sarah just laughed as the three arrived at the Hughes residence. Just as the door closed behind Katie, Elicia came run from around the corner.

"Papa," she cheered, arms open wide.

"Elicia," Maes said, crouching down and greeting his daughter with an embrace. "You're the cutest," he declared as he hugged her.

"Daddy, you're quashing me!"

Hughes let go of his daughter as his wife came over. "Visitors," she asked.

"Yeah, they're gonna stay with use for the night."

"Sorry to impose on you," Sarah said, apologetically.

Gracia simply smile and replied with, "The more the merrier. Elicia, why don't you show them the guest room."

Elicia's smile grew as she grabbed on to Sarah's hand and started pulling her toward the hallway. "Come on! Let's go! Then I'll show you all my dollies!" Katie followed close behind, the two older girls thinking the same thing at the same time, 'So cute~!'

~oOo~

The girls put their things in the spare room and had dinner with the family. Sarah could help but feel right at home with potatoes and beef stew in her stomach. Katie was very happy for the apple cinnamon pie that came later.

Elicia and Katie were quite entertaining. The two played together the entire time. At one point, they became completely exhausted and had fallen asleep together. The two were curled up on Elicia's little bed, Katie holding the smaller one close to her chest. Elicia looked so peaceful, cradled in the older girls arms, and Katie was smiling, whispering her own little sister's name in her sleep.

"They're so cute," Sarah said quietly, closing the door to Elicia's room. Maes nodded in agreement. Sarah glanced at the wall clock. It read 10:45p.m. "Well I guess I should get to bed as well," Sarah said, sheepishly, as she turned to the door across from Elicia's. "Good night, Hughes," she said, walking into the dark room.

"Sarah..."

She stopped, not turning to Hughes as she answered, "Yes?"

"What did you mean 'I'm so glad you're alive'?"

Sarah's eyes grew sad and she hung her head.

~oOo~

The morning came fast and court started early. Katie yawned and rubbed the sleep from her eyes as she walked into the tall elaborately decorated building. Hughes had already gone into the courtroom, to hand the other evidence over. The girls waited out in the lobby.

"Oh my gosh! Kit-Kat! Look," Sarah said excitedly as she pointed over to some men that were heading this way. Katie looked to see who her friend was getting all excited about, but her face turned grim when she saw them.

"My, my, if it isn't Katherine," Kimblee said with a smirk. Archer was with him. When did they start to appear together? They didn't seem like the kind of people who made friends. Especially not with each other. It was like double trouble. Before Katie had time to say anything else, Edward and Al come on to the scene.

"Leave her alone scum bags," Ed shouted grabbing Katie's arm. Katie winced. He had grabbed her right where a bruise was. "Hey, what's wrong," he asked. Without asking, he rolled up her sleeve. Katie pulled her arm away and quickly tried to hide her injuries but Edward had saw. "You did this you bastard!"

"Brother calm down." That was Alphones.

"It was only constructive interrogation," Kimblee said with a smirk.

"Why you-!" Edward lunged at Kimblee but he was held back by Sarah, Katie, and Al. "I'll kill you," Edward shouted as Kimblee and Archer disappeared into the courtroom.

"Brother!"

"Take a chill pill pipsqueak," Sarah said, hanging on the taller boy's automail arm.

"What did you just call me!"

"E-Edward."

Ed stopped as he heard a familiar voice. He turned and saw Parry, being escorted by MP. The doctor's right eye and shoulders were bandaged up. New automail arms hung at his side. Blood stains from the operation were still visible on his skin. It was obvious he was still in the recovering stage.

"H-hey, Edward," Parry stuttered.

"Parry…" Edward's smile told that he was happy to see his friend, but his eyes were sad as they fell upon the doctor's wounds. "You got," he swallowed hard, "automail."

"Th-the Gate…I used Roxanne." Edward's eyes grew wide and Parry hung his head in shame, "I-I'm sorry."

"You idiot!" Ed yelled as he walked over to Parry. Parry closed his eyes and flinched, as if waiting for Ed to hit him but instead he felt an arm swing across his aching shoulders, the blonde pulling him close.

"Aw, man hug," Katie said.

"Sh-shut up," Edward stammered, pulling away to face the girls, an embarrassed blush on his face. Parry laughed quietly.

"Dr. Vautour," Alphones said, getting into the conversation.

"Alph-phones," Parry said excited as he turned to the huge suit of arm, "I w-want to talk t-to you after the tr-trial! I-I w-want to c-compare notes again!"

"Um, will you be able to," Al asked. Parry's face grew long as he looked down at the shackles on his wrists.

"You committed a crime Parry," Edward said, seriousness in his voice.

There was a silence before the men that were escorting Parry became impatient and started pushing the small man forward.

"I'll s-see you in-inside," Parry said a perfectly sweet smile on his face, his read rim glasses sliding a bit off of his nose, as the police pushed him inside the courtroom.

Once Parry was gone, Edward turned to Katie. "Next time someone hurts you, tell me right away," Edward said, then walked into the courtroom, his brother following behind him. Katie's face turned ten shades and a mischievous grin came across Sarah's face.


	11. Trial

The girls were ushered into a cylinder shaped room and led to the left wall of the court room along with Ed, Roy, and Parry where they joined Kimblee, Archer, and Hughes. Al, Havoc, and Riza sat in one of the rows in the room.

"The trial will now commence." Parry was led from the wall to the center of the room and turned to face parliament and Führer King Bradley. Parry quivered slightly at being the center of attention by all in the room, especially the Führer. Along the wall, Ed worried for his friend. He knew that what Parry had done was wrong, but as he glanced towards the girls, he decided that it wasn't so bad. Sarah and Katie stood there silently hoping that Parry would be alright. They hadn't really known much about him, other than the fact that it was his fault there were here, but once they met him, they found it hard to stay mad at him.

"Parry Vautour, you are here because you violated your contract with the state and you attempted a form of human transmutation. Do you admit that these claims are true?" One of the men in Parliament asked.

"I-I…." Parry stammered, his lower lip trembling. He looked up at the Führer. The doctor felt so small under that terrifying gaze. Even If he felt guilty, he felt like he had to do something. Parry swallowed hard and put on a brave face. "I-I ag-g-gree but p-please ex-explain h-how I have committed th-th-the act of h-human tran-transmutation. As I-I understand, hu-human tran-transmutation is th-the a-attempt of transm-mutation to human b-b-bodies and s-souls. I have n-not committed an-any of th-these," Parry stuttered in reply. He was scared stiff.

The man of parliament who was speaking to Parry sighed, "So you deny that you have committed human transmutation?"

"Y-yes sir."

The man waved for the bailiff to bring the girls forward. Sarah and Katie stood near Parry. "Are these not the girls you claim to have pulled from another world," the man asked sternly.

"Y-yes sir, b-but I d-do n-not claim to h-have used hu-human tr-transmutation to a-achieve this."

"Thank you. That is all. You may be seated for now." The Parliament member turned to the Führer, saluted, and sat down.

"Colonel Mustang, please come forward to give your report." Bradley stated.

Mustang quietly walked up with a handful of papers. He cleared his throat and started. "At the beginning of the week, I and my men went to Dr. Parry's home to evict him off of the premises. Vautour had failed to provide us with his annual assessment report after already being on probation for a year and was going to be revoked of his government license. Upon our arrival, we found that the doctor was in the middle of performing alchemy and had locked the door. We forcefully entered the home when we hear the crying of a child coming from inside. When we entered, the doctor was already done with his transmutation. We found Vautour lying against the wall with his arms mutilated, covered in blood, and in a crazed metal state. Along with Parry, we also found the two girls Sarah Don Elroy and Katherine Reith Viverette who we believe were taken from another world by Parry. The child that was crying was Roxanne Corsair, his niece. She was found in middle of his transmutation circle and we believe that Parry used the child to perform his transformation, classify this as a human transmutation."

"Please present your evidence on why you believe these girls from another world."

Hughes brought forth the evidence that he had collected from the girls: Katie's bat-pack, its content, cell phones, iPods, and cloths. The member of the court went through the items then returned them. Next, the people who interviewed Katie were supposed to testify. Archer took the stand first, then Kimblee. Both said that the girls did seem to be from a different dimension. They didn't speak much after that. Archer added that he didn't feel that the girls could be dangerous in anyway and Kimblee simple turned his attention to Bradley and said, "You've read my full report. We got everything out of Katherine: all the information you wanted to know." After a short recess, parliament came to this conclusion. "We recognize Sarah and Katie as being from a different word," Bradley said.

"What, that's it?"

"Sarah, you said that awfully loud," Katie said trying to calm down her friend.

"Formal court takes forever," Sarah whined, leaning in her chair.

Bradley laughed. "Don't worry young lady. We'll be done soon."

Sarah made a face and made sure to be quiet for the rest of the trial.

The man that spoke for parliament before spoke again. "So now is the trouble of were there Parry preformed human transmutation. Will the Fullmetal Alchemist please take the stand?" Edward got up from his seat and the questioning began.

"Edward Elric, how do you know The Dimensions Alchemist?"

"We did research together some time ago and became friends."

"What would you say the doctor's research is mostly about?"

"Parry gained his title because of his theories on multiple dimensions. His research has been working toward tapping into a different dimension. He is completely fascinated by the idea of a different world separate from this one"

"You said you did research with him, yes?"

"We compared notes, checked each other's theories and such."

"Did you help Parry in planning this transmutation that brought Sarah and Katherine to this world?"

Edward paused for a moment "…No."

"Do you know the relationship between Parry and Roxanne?"

"She is his niece."

"Do you know how the child came to live with Parry?"

"No, sir."

"No more questions."

Edward sat down and this time Parry was called to the stand.

"Parry, is it true that your sister and her husband died last year.

"Y-yes, in a-an accident."

"An accident you were involved in."

"…"

"How long ago did your sister die?"

"She died this year in January."

"Is it possible that there was no accident and that you killed your sister so you could take Roxanne-"

"N-no!"

"-and use her so you could perform a transmutation that would unlock a way for you to reach in to a different dimension?"

"N-no! I-I-I-"

"It was going to take something big for you to match the equivalent exchange for something like opening a different dimension. The pure soul of an innocent child and your two arms would be just right!"

"N-No! Stop it!"

The room grew silent at Parry's last outburst. He had his hands over his ears, head down, and was shaking like a rabbit.

"No more questions."

Everyone settled down quietly as Bradley gave his final ruling. Parry stayed where he was.

"Parry Vautour is guilty of breaking the rules of his contract, however; his performance of actually being able to open up another dimension and pull something else out is that equal enough to count as his annual assessment report. Unfortunately, there isn't enough evidence to show that he committed any kind of taboo. Especially that the child isn't hurt in any way we can tell. The doctor will continue to bare his title but will be on probation. Parry will be put back under Roy Mustang's jurisdiction along with Sarah and Katie. Parry will be continuing to work on his research under strict guide lines such as: only work in a government assigned lab and sending in weekly reports of what he is doing. Sarah and Katie may work toward returning home but will not receive any military aid unless registered into military membership. Roxanne may return into the custody of Parry Vautour but will be continually checked up on. That is all."

Sarah sighed in relief that the trial was over while Katie smiled at the Parry's good fortune. They watched as the MP released the handcuffs on the doctor's wrists, exit the courtroom, and Ed walked over to his friend, grinning.

"I need you girls to come with me for a moment." Sarah and Katie turned around to see Bradley.

"Did we do something wrong…sir?" Katie asked, adding the last part on after a slight pause.

"No, no. I just want to talk. After all it's not every day when we get visitors such as you two," Bradley laughed "Now please come with me." With that, he turned and started out of the court room, Katie and Sarah following. Mustang observed what had happened and ran over to Sarah before she left the room.

"Once you're done talking to him, please meet us back in my office." Sarah nodded to the Colonel and hurried to catch up to Katie.


	12. Chat with the Führer

The three walked down a few halls quickly before Bradley opened the door to an empty interview room, the same one Katie had been in. He gestured to the girls to enter first and they took a seat as he closed the door. He looked at the girls as he sat down. Katie's grip tightened on Elric, attracting his attention.

"Where did you get that?"

"My youngest sister gave it to me." Katie said plainly, though her eyes were churning with emotions.

"I see. You must miss her. I hope that you will be able to get back to your home, but in the mean time, are you two considering joining the military?" He folded his hands and placed his chin on top of them, his eye focused on the girls.

"We're thinking about it, but at the moment we aren't sure what we'll do." Sarah said as calmly as possible.

"In Major Kimblee's report, it said that you told him that you and your friend were from a parallel dimension that was set in the future, and that the two of you knew information about us since we're fictional characters there. How much do you two know?" Bradley asked, a severe air descending in the room. Both girls gulped silently, unsure of how to answer the question.

"Um..we know a lot about you guys. Not every little detail, but we know of the events that happen here." Katie slowly said. Bradley continued to look at the girls severely before smiling.

"That's good to hear. I may call on you two to help me in the future. It was a pleasure to talk to you girls." He said, grinning as he stood up, walked across the room, opened the door, and left the room.

Katie let loose a breath that she didn't know she had been holding. "I think that might have been more scary then my interview."

Sarah turned to Katie, a small smile tugging at the corner of her lips. "So what was your interview with Archie and Kibble like Kit-Kat?"

"Archie and Kibble were quite cross with me almost the entire time Sarah. That fact made it…interesting" Katie said laughing at the nicknames. Sarah laughed along with her friend for a little while before they both calmed down. "I would totally love for them to hear that Sarah." Katie stated, beginning to laugh again, but it died as she heard someone clear their throats. The girls turned towards the sound to find Archer, who was showing no emotion, and Kimblee, who was wearing his usual sadistic grin.

"Miss Sarah, come with me," Archer ordered as he turned and walked away. Sarah looked at Katie quickly before leaving her alone in the room with a sadistic pyro maniac. Sarah followed Archer through the building; before he opened the door to what she assumed was his office. He walked in first, facing away from Sarah as she stepped in and closed the door.

"Why did you call me…Archie?" Archer asked, sounding embarrassed by the nickname.

"Is there a reason I shouldn't? Besides it's a nickname." Sarah responded, relieved that Archer didn't seem mad.

"Why did you give me a nickname? Aren't nicknames usually just for close friends?" Archer asked, still turned away from Sarah.

"No. You could call someone you barely know by a nickname. It's just being human and treating the other like your equal." Sarah said, shrugging her shoulders a smidge.

After a few minutes of silence, Archer turned to Sarah, his cheeks appearing to be tinged slightly pink "You may leave now."

As Sarah left the room, many thoughts swam across his mind, the main one being it's been so long since someone had treated him like a human being.

~oOo~

Havoc looked up at the sound of the door opening and smiled at the girl who entered. He had been worried when he saw her leave with Bradley and now he was glad she was alright. Sarah smiled at Havoc before looking around the room.

"Where's Katie?"


	13. Kimblee Attacks

WishesIWasHuman: Hey Wishes here. I just want you to know that I did write those three chunk of paragraphs that you're going to read and be like "whoa man." I want to say that at the time I was very excited to type it. In fact, I set it up so the Katie character would get all lone with Mr. Crimson. I live to get reactions out of people. I loved how Kit-Kat responded. A little after I typed it, I felt a little bit of regret but I desided that i liked it. I hope you like it too. And I'm sorry that it may not be the proper writer thing to do, but hey, fan fictions are just away for writers to get all those things that they need to get out to get out. Even if they are scenes like this one. Hope you enjoy.

* * *

"I thought she was with you."

Sarah brow wrinkled in concern. Havoc noticed and quickly responded with, "If she isn't here in fifteen minutes we'll go look for her together." Sarah nodded and took a seat next to the blonde second lieutenant on the small sofa. Havoc felt a feeling of bliss run up his spine.

Meanwhile, Katie was still in the room where she and Sarah had talked to Bradley but now she was there with Kimblee.

Katie stood quickly rose from her chair as Kimblee took a step closer to her. He let out a small chuckle, "What's wrong Katherine? Why are you wearing such a cautious look on your face? Are you scared of me?"

"No way," Katie spat, though that was clearly a lie. Being alone with him made her more nervous than anything. Kimblee seemed to be able to see through her words as his signature smirk came across his face. "You know Katherine, I told you not to tell anyone about what happened at the interview," Kimblee said getting closer to Katie. It was almost like he was trying to corner her. Katie was sure to retreat a little at a time as Kimblee slowly advanced on her. "And the Fullmetal Alchemist found out. I told you there would be a trouble if anyone found out." Katie's eyes turned wide. So many bells were going off in her head, all of them telling her to run. She felt like a deer in headlights. Kimblee moved quickly and Katie snapped out of her daze but it was too late.

Katie had thrown her arms up in the air to strike him but he caught her wrists. Katie winced at his tight grip but that didn't last long as he smashed his lips to hers in a forceful kiss. Her first reaction was to push him away but she was defenseless under his strength. The content of the desk top clattered to the floor as Kimblee push the girl on the desk. He climbed on top of her, pinning her wrists to the dark wooden desk. Kimblee deepened his kiss, finding a way to pry her mouth open. He dove right in, being sure to explore every bit of the girl's mouth. Then something happened that Katie never intended; a low, deep-throated sound emitted involuntarily from Katie chest. Kimblee smirked. "How amusing," he said, his lips brushing hers with each syllable, "You stand up to me and refuse me. I don't hinder you and yet you sigh that way for me? Ha-ha." Katie's face flushed red with embarrassment, her eyes closed half way, and a hazy looked on her face. Kimblee's lips were on hers again. She felt her eyes close and kissed him back, tongues dancing together. She felt like she was being consumed, all sorts of emotions swirling together. Another moan, followed by Kimblee's own whispers.

He released Katie's hands to let his own roam free. Katie didn't move to push him away. Kimblee ran one hand on the girl's side, while another slipped under her dark brown skirt. Katie was wearing light blue long sleeve v-cut shirt that was made out of thin cotton, a dark brown skirt made out of a thick fabric that made it look wavy or crinkled. The skirt came just to her shins and below that she wore black ballet flats. Her hair was down in soft waves. Kimblee made sure to map every part of her body. Katie felt lost, drowning in this ecstasy. He huffed as he kissed her neck and pushed her skirt up. Katie's eyes shot open and she snapped out of her dazed state. "N-no!" Katie screamed and kicked her foot up, coming in contacted with his groin. Kimblee swore under his breath, completely folded in half as he now lay on the floor. Katie jumped from the desk and ran out the room. She sprinted to Roy's office.

~oOo~

Sarah glanced up at the clock and Havoc noticed. "Do you want to go look for her now?"

Sarah simple nodded but just as the two stood up the door busted open. Katie came in and closed the door quickly behind her, leaning on it. She seemed out of breath.

"What's wrong," Sarah asked.

"Sarah. . . I just got sexually assaulted by a sadistic pyro maniac!"

"Wait, what? Please explain." Sarah requested, walking over to Katie who was still against the door attempting to regain her breath.

"After you left the room, he cornered me and…." Katie stopped as her face heated up at the memory of what had happened only a few moments ago. Sarah's eyes widened as she pieced together what Katie was trying to say.

"Katie, when you say sexually assaulted, do you mean that he tried to rape you?" Sarah asked slightly nervous as she waited for the answer that she already knew. Katie just looked at Sarah and nodded her head.

"What? Who is the bastard? I'm going to murder them!" Ed yelled at Katie as he walked over to her and grabbed her by the shoulders. Katie's eyes widened and started to drain of all emotion as she started to seal herself away inside.

"Brother let go of her. I think you might be scaring her" Alphonse said seeing what was happening. He was angry too, but Ed had leaped up in raw fury when he heard what Katie said, so now he was trying to make sure that Katie didn't go into shock. Ed looked at Katie and saw what Al was seeing. Ed dropped his hands but didn't move an inch from where he was standing. There was no way he was going to let her out of his sight, not after this. "Katie, are you alright?" Alphonse asked gently as though he were talking to a scared kitten. Katie looked at him, her eyes starting to go back to normal.

"Y-Yeah, I'm still in one piece, more or less." She said quietly.

"So you got out of there with your virginity intact?" Sarah asked, her voice shaking slightly. Katie's face turned red slightly and she nodded her head. "How did you manage that?"

"I got in a lucky kick to his…regions. He collapsed and I ran." Katie stated quietly. She looked down feeling ashamed of herself. She had let herself get caught in a situation like that and she hadn't been able to defend herself properly. Mustang came over, angry and worried, just as tears started to appear. He looked down at the little devil who had caused him so much trouble the past few days and all he saw was a sad and terrified girl who was far from home and confused. He placed a hand on Katie's shoulder gently, causing her to look up.

"Katie, I need you to tell us exactly what happened." Katie nodded slightly and closed her eyes. She tried to separate herself from her feelings as she explained what had happened.

"He cornered me in an interview room and pinned my wrists after I tried to hit him in order to escape. He…He kissed me and forced me down on the desk and climbed on top of me" Katie started shaking and her voice cracked as tears started falling again. The others were unsure of what to do since she always had so much energy and was never like this. "He kissed me again and slid his hand under my skirt" Ed and Al's hands clenched into tight fists. Whoever had done this was so dead once they got a hold of him. "That's when I was able to kick him and then I ran."

"Katie, did he kiss you on your neck?" Sarah asked staring at her. Katie looked at her friend with tears still running down her face and nodded her head. "Katie, he gave you a hickey." Katie's eyes widened as her hand reached up to the spot on her neck where Sarah was pointing. As she felt the bump, her nails started scratching at it in a vain attempt to remove it. Sarah grabbed Katie's hand and shook her head, silently confirming that it wouldn't come off that way. Ed placed his arm around Katie's shaking shoulders, trying to comfort her as he controlled his rage. Roy looked astonished at what he had just heard. A military officer had done this to Katie. He looked down at the shaken girl in anger at the one who had made her this way.

"Katie, who did this to you?" Roy asked looking at the girl's changing, sad eyes. Her dark blue pools cascading salt gems.

"…Kimblee"

"That bastard! He's dead once I find him! Why didn't you say it was him sooner?" Ed shouted at Katie as he turned her to face him. He was furious and it made his golden eyes burn with an unearthly fire.

"I'm writing a report to the head of the social affairs department. Kimblee will be punished for this." Roy said, his voice filled with a promise of angry vengeance.

"No! Don't do that!" Katie said quickly, startling everyone in the room.

"Why not?" Ed and Roy roared together.

"That will only cause more trouble and bring unnecessary attention to ourselves. Besides we need to consider how others will respond to it. All of you know I'm not lying, but honestly who would the higher ups believe, a teenage girl from another dimension or Kimblee. The political aspects have to be taken into account and everyone who doesn't know me would most likely agree with whatever Kimblee would say." Katie stated calmly looking up at Roy with emotionless eyes. The colonel was slightly stunned at what she had just said. It was true that all those things would happen, he just hadn't thought of it that way. Katie's gaze swept across everyone in the room, landing last on Sarah.

Sarah starred back at Katie for a few moments before declaring "She's gone into Spock mode again."

"What?" Ed asked

"It's when she closes her real emotions away and acts based only on the scientific and political aspects of a situation. Or she'll act according to how she normally would only the emotions wouldn't be real."

Ed was about to say something when the door opened slightly, knocking Katie forward a few steps.

"I-I'm s-sorry. I-I didn't k-know you were there." The person who opened the door stuttered as he walked into the room. Katie turned around to face him, the others watching carefully for her reactions.

"Hey no harm, no foul. Besides I shouldn't have been standing in front of the door anyways." Katie smiled and giggled as she walked over to the man. "I'm Katie. It's nice to meet you Dr. Vautour."


	14. New Lead

Kit-Kat: Hey everyone, sorry that it took so long to get this up. My computer got a virus and won't start up and on top of that I had lost my flash drive that had all the chapters on it for a bit. But I've found it! So without further ado here you go.

* * *

"I-I'm s-sorry. I-I didn't k-know you were there." The person who opened the door stuttered as he walked into the room. Katie turned around to face him, the others watching carefully for her reactions.

"Hey no harm, no foul. Besides I shouldn't have been standing in front of the door anyways." Katie smiled and giggled as she walked over to the man. "I'm Katie. It's nice to meet you Dr. Vautour."

"I-it's n-nice to me-meet you too," Parry said excited, taking Katie's hand in his and shaking it with great enthusiasm. Finally he got to meet face to face with the end result of all of his life's work. Katie just laughed, "You don't have to be so formal!" She pulled the short man into a hug and Parry's face lit up in embarrassment. "Th-thank you, "he stammered as she released him.

"Doctor!"

Parry jumped at the sound of that voice. "Y-yes Colonel M-mustang," Parry said, turning to Roy.

"What are you doing here," Roy questioned.

"Um, w-well, since th-the trial i-is over . . .," Parry stated then turned his gaze to Ed and Al. Roy simple sighed. Parry was a man of little confidence. He couldn't even some up the courage to talk to people he was no yet comfortable with. Parry had no spin and it irritated Roy to no end but he tired to help him as much as he could. "Fine," Roy said, waving them away. Parry's face lit up as a smile grew on his face, and then he turned to the two girls. "D-do you . . ."

"Sarah, Katie, go with the doctor," Roy said sounding bored as he sat at his desk, shifting through papers.

"Th-thank you Roy, uh, I-I m-mean colonel," Parry cheered.

Edward smiled as he patted his friend on the shoulder. "So, what are we going?"

"Um, p-pick up R-roxy then c-celebrate…?"

"Party! Haha!" Edward laughed, heading out of the office with Parry, Alphones followed behind. Sarah flashed a smile, giving a short wave good bye to everyone in the room as she headed out as well. "Bye," Jean said in a sing song voice, waving back at her with a goofy smile on his face. "Wipe that smirk off your face Lieutenant, "Roy growled, eyeing Havoc. "Yes, sir," Havoc said, straightening up.

"Oh, Katie," Roy shouted, before the red head could leave. She turned around and approached Roy's desk. "Are you ok, "he asked.

"Yeah, I'll be fine," Katie said, trying to sound cheery. She turned to skip off but Roy stopped her. "Katie, wait," he shouted. Katie stopped and turned back to him.

"Stay with Sarah today."

"I will but, why?"

"I don't want you to be alone."

"Why? I'll be fine."

"I'm just," Roy stated but turned his gaze away as if embarrassed, "I'm worried about you."

"Aw, big brother," Katie said.

"D-don't call me that!" Roy's face was so red at that moment. "Get out of here!"

Katie laughed as she turned and left the room.

~oOo~

The group sat on the floor: Sarah, Katie, Parry, Edward, and Alphones. Roxanne sat on Alphones lap, amusing herself by pounding on his tin body like a drum, laugh as she did. "She's so cute," Alphones sighed.

"Al, you say that every time we come here, "Edward complained, flipping over a playing card. " Parry, it's your turn."

"Oh, s-sorry," the doctor stammered as he looked away from his notes. He had a file spread out on the floor in front of him and was flipping through one of his journals, while another lay in his lap, that belonged to Alphones. Parry drew a card, sighed, and then flipped another over like Edward had done. "M-miss Sarah, it's your turn."

"Dr. Vautour, I know you wanted to compare notes, but you don't have to do it now," Alphones said.

"B-but I w-want to! This is r-really exc-citing!"

"Strato," Alphones said, laying down his hand.

"Tropo!"

Everyone turned at Sarah's outburst as she laid her hand of cards down. She had just won the game.

"Have you played this game before," Edward questioned.

"We don't have this game in our world," Katie explained after taking a swig from her drink.

"How can you go through life without playing Atmosphere," Edward shouted, shocked.

"Well have you played BS, Golf or Old Maid," Sarah asked.

"Old what," Ed said, confused.

"How about Poker? Black Jack?" Katie questioned.

"We have those but I've never heard of any of the others before," Alphones answered.

"You poor deprived child," Sarah said, looking at Ed with a sad face, "Never played Old Maid. You haven't completed childhood unless you've played Old Maid."

"It's not my fault you have such weird games!"

"W-wow, you g-girls really a-are from a-another world," Parry said amazed.

"How did you open The Gate anyway Parry," Ed asked, turning his attention to his friend.

Parry dropped his head, staring at his reflection in this cup. "A f-few months a-ago a wo-women approached me and g-gave me th-this package. In-inside of it there w-was instr-structions on how to o-open The G-gate with a child, a-along with a vile full of a r-red liquid."

"Parry, did you just say a red liquid," Ed asked serious.

"Y-yeah, sh-she said it w-would amplify m-my alchemy. It s-seemed t-too d-dangerous and I-I d-didn't wa-want to get R-Roxanne, s-so I didn't u-use it. But then, th-that night . . ." Parry trailed off, recalling what he had done.

"Where were you when you got that package?"

"D-Dublith. I-I was v-visiting s-sister's grave."

"Alphones," Edward said to his brother as he got up and grabbed his things.

"Right," Al said getting up, handing Roxanne to Katie.

"W-where are you t-two going?"

"Thanks for the lead Parry! I'll visit again tomorrow. Don't get taller than me while I'm gone," Edward called as he ran out of the house with his brother.

"I-I'm o-only twenty-four! I'm s-sure I g-got a f-few more in-inches," Parry shouted after Ed, but he had already left.

"You're twenty-four, huh? You look so young for your age," Sarah said to Parry, "You have such a cute young face, I never would have guessed."

"Th-thank you," Parry said embarrassed, scratching the back of his head, "W-would you like t-to stay the night? I st-still h-have so m-much I want t-to talk about."

"Sure let me just call Riza and let her know. Katie is that cool with you? Katie?"

Katie didn't answer. She was staring at the door that Edward had just left out of. He had gotten another lead on the Philosopher's Stone from Parry. That meant that he would he leaving soon. She frowned, wondering how much more time she had to spend with him before he left.


	15. Chapter 15

"Katie-Katie, wakey-wakey," Sarah sang, entering the bedroom, "Breakfast is ready." When Katie didn't get up, Sarah shuffled over to the bed. She crouched down next to the bed, peering at her friend's sleeping face. "Katie, wake up," Sarah said, poking at the sleeping figure's face. Katie simple whined in her sleep and rolled over. "Fine have it you way," the older girl sighed, shrugging her shoulders. Sarah walked to the bedroom door then turned on her heel to face the bed so she could get a running start. Running toward the bed, she jumped into the air. The bed squeaked loudly as she made touchdown.

"Sarah!" Katie screeched as Sarah jumped on top of her. The brunet merely gave her friend a mischievous smile, not moving from her seat. "Sarah, get off. I'm up already." Sarah laughed at the girl beneath her, got up, and skipped out of the room. Katie sighed, "She's always so uppity in the morning." Katie slowly got dressed, rubbing the sleep from her eyes as she did, and walked out into the other room where Sarah, Parry, and Roxanne were.

"M-Miss Katie, t-there's food here on th-the table f-for you," Parry said looking up from his place at the small stove as the girl came into the room. Katie sat down next to Sarah who was holding Roxanne, feeding her a bottle. The girl had longing look in her eyes as she watched the child. Katie smiled and brought her gaze to Parry. Her eyes grew wide as he turned from his work at the stove to address her. "A-are you e-enjoying your p-pancakes, o-or would you like s-some eggs," Parry asked, a sweet smile on his face as his red rimmed glasses started to slip down his nose. He was wearing a pink frilly apron and he looked adorable. Parry may as well have had lil flowers dancing around his head.

"Parry. . ."

"Y-yes, M-miss Katie?"

"You look so cute," Katie shouted throwing her arms around him in a massive hug.

"W-w-w-w-w-w-w-wha," Parry stammered an embarrassed flush coming across the face.

"He has the moe, yes," Sarah asked, smiling at the scene.

"Yes! Oh my gosh, he's so cute! I love you Parry!"

"Y-y-y-y-you d-d-do," Parry asked his face completely red, "Th-thank you, I l-like you a-as w-well."

"Good morning Edo," Sarah said.

Everyone turned to look at the door way. The Elric brothers were standing there, Edward looking a bit grumpy and disappointed.

"Hahaha, morning Ed," Katie laughed nervously as she let go of the doctor.

"A-Alphones, this is f-for you," Parry said, handing the tall suit of armor a writing journal. The young brother took it with a short nod and quiet thank you. "Y-you came to get th-the g-girls right?"

"Yeah, since they don't know their way around central yet," Ed said, sounding bored, "Come on lets go." He turned and walked back out the door, not waiting for the others.

"Wait up Edward," Sarah called after. The two girls quickly scrambled. "I'll see you later Doc," they shouted back at Parry as they went to catch up with Ed and Al. Parry stood in his make shift kitchen, Roxanne in one arm and his other hand holding a spatulas, looking a bit gloomy having being left alone again. "Bye I guess," he said, "Oh!" He hadn't stuttered!

~oOo~

"Hey, Sarah," Ed asked, sitting on a bench outside of central command with the girl he was addressing. Alphones and Katie had run off to get the red head some kind of breakfast, even if she didn't want it.

"What's up," she asked plainly. Apparently her morning high had worn off.

"Does Katie say that kind of stuff often?"

"Huh?"

"I mean, like, this morning with the doctor?"

"What? Please more specific."

"Well-"Edward was cut off as Al and Katie started heading toward they.

"Brother, we're back," Alphones announced with him and Katie now where the other two were.

"Katie, what is in your mouth," Sarah said scoldingly. A white paper stick was sticking out of the girl's grinning mouth.

"They had giant lollypops on sale, so after she ate a sandwich Katie had one," Alphones explained.

Sarah watched the other girl carefully as Katie reached for the lollypop stick. She pulled it out. There was nothing at the end of that stick. "We're all doomed," Sarah groaned, burying her face in her hands.

"Wait, what do you mean by that?" Alphonse asked, slightly frightened. Sarah motioned to Ed and Al and they all crouched in a small circle.

"Legend has it that every fifth generation of the Viverette females is born with a frightening demonic creature counterpart. The counterpart emerges from its host once the female has consumed sugar. When this demonic creature comes out, all hell is loosed on the physical world. The monster goes on a rampage and none can stop it. It has an unsustainable thirst for blood and death. There will be blood everywhere and corpses strewn left and right. I've seen it happen before. It's a terrible sight." Sarah finished her tale to a now frightened Ed and Al. Katie sighed and walked over to Sarah, Ed and Al watching her carefully to see if she would attack.

"Sarah that is one of the most badly exaggerated stories I have ever heard. No one has died when I've had sugar in the past. They've become very annoyed with me, but no one's ever died. Oh and Sarah, one more thing…"

"Yes?" Sarah asked slightly perplexed. Katie crouched down next to Sarah and looked her in the eyes before her arm shot out. Sarah fell over laughing and curled up in a ball, twitching slightly. Ed and Al looked at Sarah and then at Katie.

"What did you do?" Ed asked looking at the laughing girl as she regained her bearings.

"I tickled her. She's extremely ticklish and it's amusing to watch when she squirms that way." Katie said while shrugging her shoulders.

"So what she said was a lie? You're not going to kill anyone?" Alphonse asked worriedly. After all, it would be his fault if she went on a rampage, plus he didn't want to see Katie thrown in prison.

"Of course it's a lie. All of what she just said is purely fictional and besides, even if that did happen, I couldn't kill. I'm not capable of doing so." Katie said looking the brothers in their eyes. She quickly turned on her heel and walked across the street to the entrance door of the military headquarters. She turned back to the others and motioned to the others to catch up. She waited on the stair steps as Sarah stood up and then the trio crossed the street and ran up to where she was. They entered the maze of hallways together after proving their identities to the lady at the front desk. After a few minutes, Katie's face twisted into a childish smile and she started skipping down the hallway humming a tune no one knew.

"It's starting. The terror's going to come out soon." Sarah whispered to Ed and Al.

"Stop that Sarah. You're creeping me out." Ed grumbled in reply as he watched her skip in merry bliss. As they turned the corner and saw the entrance to Roy's office, Katie broke into a sprint and burst through the door, nearly knocking poor Havoc over. Sarah, Ed, and Al entered the room just in time to see the little red blur attach herself to the Colonel.

"Konichiwa nii-san, hajimemashite?" Katie asked in a cute voice. The occupants of the room stared at the young girl, clearly not understanding the language.

"What did you just say?" Roy asked, flabbergasted at Katie's actions. She was always rude and mischievous towards him, why wasn't she acting that way?

"She said Hello big brother, how are you?" Sarah translated for Roy. Roy looked down at the girl who was looking expectantly up at him, obviously awaiting an answer. Roy sighed and detached the girl from him.

"I'm fine and I told you not to call me that." Roy said, though there was no sternness to his voice, there was a light pink dusting on his cheeks.

"How did you know what she was saying?" Riza questioned.

"Katie and I watched anime, which came from Japan. She was speaking some of the Japanese phrases that she knew. She frequently used them so after a while I became used to hearing them." Sarah answered in a simple tone.

"So why is she acting like this?" Havoc asked, coming up next to Sarah. Sarah blushed slightly, but otherwise remained unfazed.

"She was given sugar. I don't know how much she had, so I have no clue how long she's going to be hyper. All I know is that she was insane back home when she had sugar and now that we're here and she knows alchemy, there's no telling what she'll do." Sarah said, gazing at her friend, who was currently switching between different languages while talking to Roy.

"Who gave her the sugar?"Roy snarled. Sarah pointed to the Elrics and Roy stomped over there, annoyed that Katie was in such a state because now she was even more unpredictable than ever. With the Colonel preoccupied with yelling at Ed and Al, Havoc gathered the courage to ask the question that had been lingering in his mind for a while.

"S-sarah, would you l-like to go o-on a date w-with m-me? T-tonight?" Havoc stuttered nervously. Sarah looked up at him, shocked for a moment, before blushing a lovely shade of pink.

"Sure Havoc. That sounds great!" Sarah smiled up at him and he returned the smile.

Unfortunately, Roy had heard what the lieutenant had said, along with Sarah's response, and was about to say something when he felt something tug on his sleeve. He looked down to see Katie staring up at him with big blue eyes.

"Please don't say anything nii-san, if you prevent the date from happening, it would make Sarah-chan very sad. I don't want to see her upset. Please don't big brother. Please." Katie pleaded in a very sweet voice with her big eyes shining up at him. He took one look at that face and sighed. It was hard to deny that expression.

"Fine." Roy grunted, unhappy that Sarah was going on a date with Havoc. Katie smiled and hugged him.

"Arigato nii-san." She sang.

"Yeah, yeah, you're welcome okay. Now get off of me." Roy said while prying Katie off of him. He figured that she had been saying thanks or something similar when she was talking in that odd language. He walked past Sarah and Havoc and sat down at his desk, quite miffed that Katie was acting this way. While it was cute, it was a bit annoying. Closing his eyes, he rubbed his temples, trying to ease the building headache. It was going to be a long day.


	16. Chapter 16

Kit-Kat: Wow so many reviews! It makes me so happy! I wanted to tell you wonderful reviewers that we will take suggestions for the story but you may not see them for some time because we're a bit ahead in the story. If you have an idea please post it in a review and if it is used I will reply to let you know. Thanks for all your reviews and I hope that you will continue to give them.

* * *

After about two hours, several hug attacks, and minor explosions, Katie's sugar high finally wore off. She sat down next to Ed, feeling a bit tired. Ed glanced unhappily at Katie from the corner of his eye and scooted over, putting as much space as he could himself and her. Katie looked at the blond, perplexed by how he was acting. However she shrugged it off when Havoc stood up and walked over to Sarah.

"Well, I'm done with my work. Do you want me to come by the apartment in a few minutes to get you?"

"Why can't we just go from here?" Sarah asked, her brow creasing slightly.

"'Cause the place where I'm taking you is formal, so both of us need to change."

"Oh, ok….well, I guess I'll see you in a little while." Sarah stated awkwardly, standing up. Katie followed suit and left the office with Sarah. As the two girls left headquarters, Sarah smiled. Jean Havoc had just asked her out. She was definitely going to enjoy the evening.

~oOo~

Havoc knocked on the door of Riza's apartment approximately twenty minutes later. Katie opened the door and moved to let Havoc inside.

"Hey Havoc. She's almost ready." Katie said, running to the room that the girls shared. Havoc stared blankly around the room. He heard muffled talking through the girls' closed door. Katie came back into the room, and turned around to face the open door. "Come on Sarah. You look great."

Havoc's eyes widened and his jaw gaped at the heavenly sight before him. Sarah was dressed in a pink halter dress that had a handkerchief skirt. The dress had an empire waist which was accented with a brown ribbon and there was a slight split in the front of the skirt where it was brown. She had on brown ankle strap heels and around her neck hung a light pink rose, which sat lightly on the crook of her neck. Blood rushed to Havoc's cheeks as he gazed at the angel before him.

"Y-you ready to go." Havoc stammered, excited, nervous, and elated. Sarah blushed some more and nodded her head.

"Good luck on your date Sarah." Katie called as Sarah left with Havoc, a mischievous smile on her face.

Katie sighed as the door closed. "Now what," she thought out loud. Riza was also out tonight and Katie had the house to herself. She looked down at Black Hayate, who was waging his tail with excitement. "You're so cute," Katie sighed, petting Hayate on the head. After a moment, she stood up as if in sudden realization. "I can't get distracted by the cuteness! It's a trap! I got to find something to do so I don't bore myself to death!"

Katie glanced around and spotted a bookshelf. She walked over and looked at the titles of some of the books, finding that most of them she had never heard before. She randomly picked one and headed over to the sofa, plopping down on it. Black Hayate followed her but didn't move to get on the sofa. "What's wrong, your Mama doesn't let you sit on the sofa," Katie asked the little black and white puppy. Black Hayate whined, waging his tail. Katie smiled and pattered the seat next to her. The dog took that as a sign to jump on to the piece of furniture and he quickly settled himself into Katie's lap. The red head smiled, petting the puppy, his ears flopping cutely as she did, and cracked open the book she had taken from the shelf.

~oOo~

There was silence between the two for a while, both of them unsure of what to say, as they walked toward their destination.

"So where are we going?" Sarah questioned.

"We're going to see a play called Demons and Angels at the Ivan Theatre. It's the most popular production at the moment." Havoc said grinning down at Sarah.

"What is it about?" Sarah asked, her curiosity peaked.

"Now if I told you that, it would spoil the surprise." Havoc stated happily. He really hoped that she would enjoy the evening. The rest of the walk was spent on talking about trivial matters such as what were their favorite colors, did they like pets, if so what types, etc.

When they arrived, Havoc pulled out the tickets and handed them to the ticket taker, who checked them to make sure they weren't frauds, and they walked in to find their seats.

It turns out that the play was one of the myths for the creation of the destroyed city of Xerxes. The story was about a powerful demon that was captured and thrown into prison to await his judgment. While he was there, the princess of the angels visited him. They quickly became friends due to their situations. While the demon had been granted plenty of freedom before he was captured, the princess had never been outside of the palace itself. A time came when her father was trying to marry her off, and the princess begged the demon for help. He agreed on the condition that she would help him escape by binding herself to him in a magical contract. As soon as she agreed the demon broke his chains, scooped the princess up into his arms, and flew off.

As they escaped, many arrows were fired at them. The princess protected the demon as best as she could, but his wings were torn by a few stray arrows and they fell. When they awoke, they found themselves in the middle of a field and there were no other living beings except for themselves. Since they had nowhere to go, they stayed where they had awoken and built themselves a home. They couldn't have children so they created some in their own image and led a happy life.

It only took a matter of minutes before Sarah was completely absorbed into the performance. Havoc watched her, a smile on his face.

~oOo~

It had been a good hour since Sarah had left, when Katie heard the door bell ring. Black Hayate jumped from his place in Katie's lap and ran toward the door, barking merrily as he did. "I'm coming, I'm coming," Katie called as she strode over to the front door, hearing it knock a second time. Edward was there, strangely without Alphones, with a serious look on his face.

"Hey, Ed," Katie said cheerfully.

"Can I . . . . come in," he asked, hesitantly.

"Sure." She opened the door wider and motioned for him to enter. "What's up," she asked, closing the door behind him.

Edward was quiet, as if he didn't know quite how to start. "I . . . need to ask you something."

"Shoot."

"Well, this morning, you said you . . . loved Parry."

"Of course I do!"

Edward's eyes grew wide.

"And I love Sarah, Riza, Roy, Alphones, and of course you. Were you thinking I meant something else?"

"You do," He said a bit shocked, scarlet creeping into his features.

"Yeah, but I'm not _in love_ with him."

"Well alright, I just wanted to know before I leave."

Katie's face grew long and Edward took notice.

"Al and I are heading out of Central the day after tomorrow."

"Well, that's good to know," Katie said, taking a seat on the sofa. She had known this would happen, so why did she feel so sad?

Edward straightened up, summing up some bravery, taking in a deep breath.

"I want you to come with me."

~oOo~

As the curtain fell, Sarah clapped and cheered along with the others in the audience. While the show had been a little cheesy and very fluffy, she had enjoyed the dancing and acting of the performers. As Sarah and Havoc left the theatre, Havoc wrapped an arm around Sarah's waist pulling her up against his side as they walked. Sarah's face turned cherry red, but calmed down to a light pink tint after a while. Havoc didn't release Sarah until they got to the door of Riza's apartment. As soon as his arm dropped from her waist, Sarah immediately missed its warmth.

"Thanks Havoc. I had a great time." Sarah beamed up at him.

"Call me Jean." Havoc said plainly as he stared down into Sarah's eyes. Sarah nodded her head.

"Well, goodnight Jean." Sarah turned around to open the door when Havoc's hand gently grasped hers. Havoc slowly turned her around and placed his other hand on her cheek. Sarah stared up at Havoc in almost a trance like state. She gazed into his eyes which held adoration. Havoc slowly bent his head down and placed his lips on hers just as her eyes slid shut. He held her against his chest, one hand on her cheek, the other around her waist. The kiss was chaste, but full of caring and possibly love. As the two pulled apart, their foreheads resting against one another's, they gazed into each other's eyes. The hand on her waist came up and cradled her other cheek as Havoc planted a kiss on Sarah's forehead.

"Goodnight, my princess." He said tenderly before leaving. Sarah stood there for a moment before the tears started to come. She had just kissed Havoc, and it was wonderful, but at that moment there was another blonde flashing though her mind. It was like a rapid fire slideshow of pictures of them together: holding hands, standing close, her asleep on his shoulder, her in his arms, and all of the precious moments she held in her heart. As all the images ran through her mind, whispers of words exchanged chanted in her head: I wish I could be with you right now, I love you and I always will, I'll always be here for you, I'm really glad I have you, I'm so happy I met you, I can't wait to see you again..

Sarah leaned on the door, holder her crying face in her hands. "Ben," she half whispered, half sobbed. She felt her knees giving out from under her, and she slid down the length of the door. She pulled her knees to her chest. Reality started to crash down on her. There was almost no chance that she and Katie would be able to get back home. Sadness overwhelmed Sarah and the tears started coming faster. "I love you too and I miss you," Sarah spoke out loud, "I feel even farther away then we once were but. . . "

Sarah sat there crying for the longest time before she stepped back into the apartment. Katie was already asleep, a small smile on her face. Sarah decided that she would wait until morning to talk with Katie so she changed into her pajamas and crawled into bed. That night, Sarah gave up on the world that was once hers and made a final decision.


	17. Chapter 17

Riza had already left when Sarah had woken up. She turned to her side to see the spot next to her empty. Before the idea that Katie had run off somewhere even crossed her mind, the door to the room opened to reveal Katie drying her hair with a towel, already fully dressed.

"Good morning sleeping beauty. How are you?" Katie asked as she sat down next to Sarah.

"Good."Sarah answered as she stretched. Katie looked at the girl next to her as she finished drying her hair as much as she could with the towel.

"Hey Sarah, I've got some really great news," Katie said, with a really happy voice.

"Oh, me too," Sarah said, a little surprised.

"Well then you go first."

"No, you go first."

"Sarah . . ."

"Ok, Ok." Sarah sat quietly, hesitant. "I . . .," she turned her gaze to the floor, "I'm joining the military and becoming a State Alchemist."

"WHAT?" Katie screeched, the towel falling forgotten onto the floor.

"W-why did you react like that," Sarah asked, a little shocked by her friends.

"Why? Ed and Al are leaving tomorrow and he asked me to go with him. He said you could come too and we can look for a way to get back home. If you join the military, it will tie you to one place."

"That's the point. I want to plant myself in this world and start my new life. I don't want to waste time chasing after false hopes."

"Sarah, don't say those things. Come on, this is the world of alchemy! Anything is possible here and you know that better than I do. We can get back home. I'll make sure that we do, just don't give up Sarah." Katie cried, grabbing her friend's shoulders. Sarah stood up and glared at Katie.

"Katie, just let it go! We can't get back! I'll never be able to see my brothers again! Or . . .Ben." Tears rolled down Sarah's cheeks. "Those are the facts! It's easier for me this way."

"Sarah, you always do this! You always give up too easily-"

"Shut-up."

Katie took a step back, those two words cutting deep.

"If you want to run after some damn fantasy, that's fine with me! But I'm not going to spend my nights crying myself to sleep, imagining their faces, and riding on my hope alone. I could never live like that! It's the equivalent of death," Sarah screamed at Katie. She violently shrugged the girl's hands off her shoulders, and looked her straight in the eye. "I've made my choice, what is yours going to be?"

Katie's eyes started to water as she took a few steps back, shaking her head no, before turning and running out of the room. She flung the front door opening to find a confused Havoc, Ed and Al standing there. Katie glanced at them before pushing past them and running down the hall. Sarah followed Katie out of the room and into the hallway, ignoring the boys for a moment.

"Katie, get back here! We need to resolves this!"Sarah screeched down the hallway as Katie left her line of sight. Sarah sighed and retreated back into the room. Havoc, Ed, and Al looked at each other before Ed and Al took off down the hallway after Katie while Havoc went into the apartment to find Sarah. He found her in the bedroom, sitting on the floor with her legs up to her chest. He crouched down and pulled Sarah to his own chest, allowing her to cry all her tears before he asked what had happened. Sarah clung to his shirt as Havoc stroked her hair soothingly; whispering into her ear, attempting to calm her down. Sarah's sobs slowly quieted down and finally stopped after a few minutes. Havoc allowed her breath to become normal before pulling back slightly and looking at Sarah.

"What's going on?"

"I made a choice and Katie didn't like it." Sarah stated quietly, looking down at the ground. Havoc lifted one of his hands and placed it on Sarah's cheek, tilting her head back up to look at him.

"What did you decide on?" Havoc asked, stroking Sarah's cheek gently. Sarah closed her eyes and took a breath before looking straight at Havoc.

"I'm joining the military and becoming a state alchemist."

~oOo~

Ed and Al could barely keep Katie in sight as they tried to catch up with her. As they turned a corner, they saw Katie run into Central Park. It was almost deserted since most people were at work. Katie started to slow down as she dodged the trees. Ed ran faster and caught the girl's wrist, forcing her to stop and turn around to look at him. Both of them were breathing heavy as Ed looked at Katie. The sun glinted off her damp hair which clung to her neck, shoulders, and face in waves, her head was turned from him, but he could slightly see tears at the corners of her eyes. Alphonse caught up to the two and looked down at Katie.

"Katie, what's going on between you and Sarah?" Al asked.

"We're…we're just disagreeing on a few points right now." Katie stated, still refusing to look at the brothers.

"Katie, look at us and tell us what's happening." Edward basically commanded the red head. Katie sighed and lifted her hair to look at the two. Her eyes showed sadness, anger, and pain.

"How can she just give up like that? She's not the only one who misses her family and friends. How can she want to give up on the hope we have? I don't understand. Why?" Katie whispered just loud enough for the brothers to hear as a few of the tears started to fall. Ed pulled Katie into a comforting hug while Al patted her head.

"She might not have been able to take all the feelings of loss and lack of success. It's probably just easier for her to give up then continue on with a small amount of hope." Ed stated softly, trying to get the girl in his arms to calm down and relax. Her sobs became dry after a few more minutes and she pulled back and wiped her eyes dry.

"I feel like such a stupid, useless idiot right now. I've done nothing but cry for the past few days and now I'm having trouble understanding my best friend. I know what she's feeling, but I don't understand how she can give up so easily. I want to see my siblings just as much as she wants to see hers. Either way though, I'm not going to give up." Katie said as she locked eyes with Ed, her eyes bright with determination. Ed's face twisted into a grin.

"So you're coming with us?" Alphonse asked excitedly.

"Yep. Oh, I guess I better get back and pack my stuff."Katie thought out loud. Ed and Al smiled at one another, happy that Katie appeared to be going back to normal. The three walked back to the apartment. Upon reaching the door, Ed and Al said that they would see her tomorrow morning and went off to finish their preparations.

As the girl opened the door to the apartment, a very happy Black Hayate came running up to her. Katie laughed as she headed towards the room that she and Sarah shared. She stopped for a moment before opening the door to an empty room. She walked over to the bed and found a note.

_Katie,_

_Sarah's with me and Mustang at the office. Hope you two can make up._

_Jean Havoc_

Katie sighed, crumpled up the note, and tossed it into the wastebasket. She grabbed a brown bag that she had made a few days ago and started packing her clothes. When she was almost done packing, she realized that she was missing a very important possession. She searched all over the room and the rest of the apartment, looking for it in vain.

"Elric, where did you go?" She wondered out loud. Suddenly, the answer popped into her head. The last time she had Elric was when she was in the interview room…where she almost got raped by Kimblee. Katie slapped her head in frustration. The sadistic pyro maniac had Elric.


	18. A bat and some kisses

Kit-Kat: Ok I know this is a few days early but I felt like giving this to you. Warning this chapter is a bit short and a bit OOC but it's kind of cute. Please no flames unless in the form of constructive critiscism.

* * *

Archer's gaze had been locked in one place for the longest time. Another bead of sweat ran down his temple, but he didn't move to wipe it away. It had been only a few days, but this thing had kept his attention. He wasn't sure exactly sure why it bothered him so much.

"Kimblee," the Colonel finally spoke up.

"What is it," Kimblee asked. He was currently sitting at his desk, feet propped up on it.

"That thing on your desk, get rid of it."

"How come," Kimblee asked sitting up and taking Elric the Bat from his place on his desk and sitting it in his lap, "I kind of think it's cute."

"It's staring into my soul," Archer signed, closing his eyes as he rubbing his forehead in frustration. When Archer looked back up, Kimblee was holding the beady eyed black creature right up in his face. He nearly fell out of his chair. Kimblee busted out laugh at the look on his superior face. "_Don't you want to be friends, Archie,_" Kimblee said, changing his voice and moving the bat around, as if it was talking.

"Don't call me that," Archer groaned, pushing Elric out of his face.

"What's wrong? You only like the ladies calling you that," Kimblee said placing Elric back in his lap.

"Shut-up, Kimblee. God, I'm grateful we don't share an office," Archer said, "I'm heading back."

"Suit yourself," Kimblee muttered as he started rummaging through the bag, eyeing curiously at some of the items.

Archer scoffed to himself and flung the door open. He stopped and looked down at the person that was standing in front of the door, fist held up as if about to knock.

"Um, I came to get my bat pack, Elric." Katie said in a small voice.

"Thank you. You're doing me a favor," Archer snarled as he stepped out of the room and made his way down the hall. Katie closed the door behind her as she entered the office. At first she stood silently before Kimblee's desk, not saying a word. It seemed she was mustering up some courage before she made her move. Finally after a moment or two, the girl inhaled deeply and spoke.

"I've come to get back Elric."

"Finders keepers," Kimblee said plainly, not looking up from what he was doing. It seemed he had taken a picture frame off of the desk, carefully removed the photograph, and was now quickly scribbling notes on the back. Once he was done, Kimble folded the picture in half and stuck in it with the other content of the bag. Katie ignored this for the moment.

"It's mine and I demand it back this instant."

"Well ok then, if you put it that way." Kimblee sighed as he got up from his chair, Elric in hand. He held out the bag to the girl, but as she went to snatch it up, he pulled it out of her reach. Katie simply made a face up at the man. This only seemed to please him more as he replied with a classic smirk. "Before I give this to you I want you to know that you have eyes in central and to call me if you ever need anything."

"Why would I call a bastard like you," Katie said in a controlled angered voice.

"Well I just thought if I found any information I could call and tell you-"

"As if you would ever really do that."

"-and of course send you updates on your friend Sarah."

" . . . . How did you know already?"

"I have my sources."

"Of course you do."

The two stood in silence for a moment, before Katie spoke up again: "Maybe I'll write you."

"A phone call would be nice too."

Katie glared up at him but he only smiled back. Kimblee raised his hand and Katie automatically flinched, as if preparing to be struck, but no blow ever came. She felt gentle hands touch her shoulders as he laid soft kisses on her head and cheeks. She opened her eyes, a bit shocked, as a light blush of pink crept across her face.

"Safe travels, Katie-bear," Kimblee muttered to her as he handed her Elric. He slipped past her and exited, most likely going off to bother Archer in his office.


	19. Goodbye

"Sarah, are you sure that this is a smart choice?" Havoc asked for about the millionth time. Sarah nodded her head in response. Havoc sighed; he needed her to come back to her senses.

"Are you at least going to go say goodbye to Katie? After all, you haven't seen her since yesterday morning." Roy asked, hoping to get a response out of the girl. Sarah hadn't gone back to the apartment last night. Instead she had chosen to stay in the office, Havoc and Roy stayed with her after failing to get her to go back or to go to one of their places for the night. Sarah looked up at Roy.

"No. It doesn't matter much. She's with Ed, so she'll be coming back. I'm not saying goodbye. Besides she probably doesn't want me there anyways." Sarah stated, crossing the room to sit in a chair by the window. As she gazed at the people scurrying around headquarters, her thoughts went out to Katie. _Bye Kit-Kat. You better come back in one piece or else I'll kill you. I'm sorry that I'm not there to see you off, but I don't think you want me there. It's going to be quiet without you around here. Be safe._

~oOo~

"Come on Katie, we need to get on the train now." Ed said to the girl as she scanned the station. Katie sighed and turned to Ed, clutching Elric to her chest as she followed the brothers onto the train. She took a seat next to Alphonse, and looked out the window. On the platform, she saw the Hughes family, Riza, and Black Hayate. They had all come to see them off. Elicia had attached herself to her leg for a few minutes before she had to leave. Hughes had told her that he knew everything about Sarah and her not being from this world and he and Gracia said that if she ever came back to central to come and stay with them since they started to think of Sarah and her as their own, plus Elicia identified them as her big sisters. Riza had a letter in her hand for Mustang. Basically, she was telling him that he and Havoc better take good care of Sarah, otherwise there would be terrible consequences, and that she was going to miss her big brother. As the train pulled away, Katie started slightly.

"So you weren't kidding when you said that this was your first time on a train. Ha-ha."Ed laughed at Katie's startled expression. Katie mock glared at Ed and playfully stuck her tongue out at him before turning back to the window. She was sad that Sarah hadn't shown up to say farewell and that they were parting on bad terms. She sighed again as she watched the station disappear. _Sarah, please take care of yourself. Don't get drunk again. Best of luck on your upcoming test. I'm going to miss you. Farewell._


	20. Orders

Time passed, both quickly and slowly. The hours chipped away at a tortuously sluggish speed and the days raced by. When three months had passed, it had felt like an eternity and yet it seemed to come in an instant.

"Congratulations. You're an official dog of the military." Roy casually tossed the vanilla envelope across his desk. Sarah picked it up and quickly opened it. The last three months of studying had paid off and she was eager to see the results. Carefully she removed the official documents inside.

"The Jade Alchemist," Havoc read the title, looking over the sitting girl's shoulder.

"Neat," Sarah said, reading over the paper.

"Your pocket watch," Roy interrupted, handing her the new silver watch.

Sarah took it, examining it all around. "I've wanted a new one."

"You've had one before?"

"Back in my world, my dad bought me a working replica. Six months later it got slammed in the car door. It was in pieces, but I managed to put it back together with a sewing pin. The watch never worked the same after that. "

"Well I promise this one won't break as easily."

The subject quickly changed.

"So now that you're done studying for your exam, are you going to move out of Vautour's house," Havoc asked.

"Hmm," Sarah started thoughtfully, "Well Dr. Parry has been really kind to me and his house is really peaceful, but I do need to move out. However, I'm a few months short of being able to live in the dorms alone. I'll have to find someone to house me for the time being."

Havoc seemed to perk up, as if he had been struck with an epiphany. "You could come live with me!"

"Huh?" Sarah was a bit surprised by this.

"What! Have you seen your house," Roy started, rising from his chair, "It is not suited for a young lady to live in."

"Young? Yes. Lady? No," Sarah muttered to herself. She ignored the other two's childish arguing as she shuffled through the rest of the documents. At one point Sarah shuffled the papers back into the envelope and sighed, "No, No. I couldn't live with a man. I wouldn't get any sleep at night."

There seemed to be a pause, as if it took a moment for those words to sink in. However, the moment was interrupted when Sergeant Major Kain Fuery walked into the room, looking excited.

"Miss Sarah, well, its Major Elroy now isn't it," Kain started. Sarah smiled. Major Elroy: it had a nice ring to it. "Anyway, I heard you need a place to live. I just moved into my new town house. There's plenty of space, so would you like to stay at my place," Kain asked.

"Really? That would be cool."

"What," Roy and Havoc said in stereo, "I thought you said you couldn't live with a man."

"Oh, Kain doesn't count," Sarah laughed, throwing an arm around the soldier's shoulders, causing a bit of scarlet to graze his cheeks. He was shorter than most of the other men, so he was the perfect height for Sarah to lean on. It didn't seem like he was sure if that was a complement or not but he took it ether way as he smiled at her.

"Of course you would have your own room and bathroom," Kain added.

"Cool! I probably wouldn't get that at Jean or Roy's house."

The two said men dropped their heads. Unfortunately what she said was true.

Before anymore conversation on that topic could be made, there was another knock at the door. An officer walked in, not waiting for an answer.

"Excuse me, are you Major Elroy," he asked walking up to the girl, who had stopped clinging to Kain and had straightened up.

"Yes, sir," she answered, starting to sound like a real soldier.

"This is for you." He handed her a letter and exited the room with a passing salute.

Sarah opened the letter and carefully read over it.

"What is it," Roy asked, coming over to peek at the paper. Havoc followed behind him.

"Assignment papers. I'm no longer under Mustang's command. I'm being moved to the investigations team. My commanding officer is Colonel Frank Archer."

"What? By who's orders?" Roy yelled. Havoc was upset as well, but hung his head. He had been looking forward to spending time with Sarah since it had seemed like they were going to be in the same jurisdiction.

"By the orders of Führer King Bradley."


	21. Chapter 21

"So I guess this is it," Sarah said, looking at the door to the investigations department branch of the building, "I'm kind of nervous."

"There is no need to be," Roy said standing next to her, "Lt. Colonel Hughes will be working with you. I'm sure he'll look after you."

Sarah nodded and opened the door. She was welcomed by the sound of a booming voice: "Welcome Major Elroy! I'm so glad to see you joining our ranks. I've heard so much about you!"

The girl's face lit up. Standing before her was a tall posing muscular man with purple sparkles dancing around him. "Oh my gosh! Alex Louis Armstrong," she cheered.

"Oh so you've heard of me," the gigantic man said.

"It's something like that. I've always wanted to meet you!"

"Oh I'm so honored," Armstrong shouted, bursting into tears of joy and pulled the girl into a bone crushing embrace. Sarah simply laughed.

"Alright, down boy. I'll get to spend plenty of time with her," Hughes said, entering the lobby where the three were.

"Hughes," Sarah beamed as Armstrong set her back down on her feet, "it's been too long."

"It has but with our kind of work environment it just can't be helped sometimes."

"Well I guess it won't be such a problem anymore," she said, an excited giggle following her words as a winning grin came across her face.

"You're so cute," Hughes gushed as he went to embrace her, like he would Elicia when he became overcome by her cuteness.

"Your crushing me Hughes," the girl managed to say. He apologized and released her.

"Hughes, please refrain from such behavior in the office," Roy said, irritation clear in his tone.

"What! No fair! I bet you do it all the time!"

"I-I would do no such thing!"

While the boys were having their playful spat, Sarah reached in to her pocket and retrieved a small notepad and a pen. She opened up the notepad and began to take short notes on it.

"What is that," Armstrong asked, peering at the paper.

"It's my character list."

"Please explain, Miss Elroy."

"Well I've got a list of char- I mean, people I really want to meet," Sarah explained. The note pads pages were filled with what seemed like a hundred names. "So for example, I've met you today. Here is your name." She pointed to Armstrong's name, which was on the 3rd page. "I've now met you, I'll put a check next to your name and since I've gotten to hug you, I'll put another." Sarah clicked open her pen and put two short checkmarks next to his name.

"I see and how is your list going so far?"

"I've only really met a few here at the office, like Hughes, Havoc, Roy, Riza, Kain, Breda, and such. The real challenges are the ones like Ling, Russell, and some other ones. I probably won't get to see them all but I hope I can get close."

"Well perhaps I can assist!" Armstrong shouted with a passionate roar as he did a flexing pose. "Let me show you a tour of your new work station and perhaps we will meet some of your new subordinates on the way!"

"Sounds like a plan," Sarah shouted, fist pumping.

"Hey, before we go doing all that," Hughes said, cutting into the conversation, "Perhaps we can go get your uniform."

~oOo~

"It's so cool that I get to wear one of these." Sarah stated as she walked back into the office.

"Oh you look so cute Sarah." Hughes spazzed as Roy looked her over, a gleam in his eyes.

"I still think that all female officers should have to wear," He spins around and strikes a dramatic pose. "MINISKIRTS!" He turns to Sarah and smirks "That way I get to see you in a miniskirt every day. Possible even in battle." He gets an odd look on his face as he starts to fantasize. The expression on Hughes's face darkens considerably as he removes his gun and loads it, pointing it at Mustang as a dark aura flames out behind him.

"Don't you dare talk about my little girl in that manner Mustang."

"Oh daddy" Sarah sighs as Hughes turns and hugs her.

"You called me daddy! I'm so happy!"Sarah's face starts to turn blue before Armstrong intervenes.

"Major Elroy, that uniform looks very fitting on you." He bellowed as he pulled her from Hughes's choking grasp. Sarah smiled and was about to respond as the door opened, revealing Kimblee and Archer.

Kimblee looked at her, his eyes roaming over her as his usual sadistic smirk was in place. Archer's eyes seemed to soften for a moment as they glanced at her before focusing on business.

"Ah Major Elroy, welcome to our ranks." He stated formally as his eyes raked over her figure. Sarah saluted him in return.

"Mustang, why are you here? Aren't you supposed to be in your jurisdiction completing paperwork?"Kimblee asked an aloof air in his manner. Roy narrowed his eyes before answering.

"I was just on my way back from escorting Major Elroy. Goodbye Major." He turned on his heel and left the office, his shoulders sagging slightly as he trudged back towards the mountains of paperwork waiting for him.

"Major Elroy, I need to speak with you in my office for a moment. Follow me." Archer ordered before leaving the room, Sarah hurrying to catch up with him. Hughes and Armstrong returned to their areas quietly, getting back to their work.

Kimblee sat down in his desk and propped his feet up on it. He leaned back in his chair and was getting comfortable just as the phone rang. He sighed and picked it up.

"Hello?"He answered in a bored manner.

"Um hi Kimblee…It's Katie." A feminine voice awkwardly stated. Kimblee smirked at the thought that his little kitten had finally called him.


	22. Scar

"Please take a seat," Archer said motioning to the chair in front of his desk, as he took his own behind the desk. Sarah quietly did so as Archer took out some files. He opened them, letting the girl look at the contents.

"This will be the case you'll be working on. I'd like to brief you on the details."

The girl's eyes widened as she saw the picture that was attached to the front page of the file. "Scar," she said an uncontrollable smile spreading across her face.

"Do you know about this case," Archer asked, a bit surprised.

"Yes sir. It's the case about the State Alchemist killer Scar, correct," she said picking up the file and looking through it.

"Yes, but . . . . " It took him a minute to realize his mistake. "I'm sorry. I had forgotten momentarily."

"It's fine."

"So, what do you already know about the case."

Sarah was careful with her words. She figured her own presence had altered the plot enough and had decided that she wasn't going to be handing out important details about this world if she could avoid it. "I only know the basics. Scar is an Ishvalan terrorist who targets State Alchemist. He uses a destructive alchemy to take out his targets. From the subjects own claims, Scar kills in the name of his God, Ishvala, but in theory the reason is rooted more in the events of the Ishval War."

"You're well informed."

"Thank you."

"What else-"

The phone on Archer's deck rang suddenly. He picked it up. "Hello. This is Colonel Archer." After a moment he thanks the person on the other line, hung up, and rose from his seat. "Major, we need to move out."

"What is it sir?" Sarah also got up.

"That was a call from the field. Scar has attacked again."

~oOo~

"State Alchemist Richard Hanriot. He was the Razor-Sparks Alchemist," an MP reported, when Archer and Sarah arrived at the scene.

"Did the murder take place in the alley," Archer asked. They were standing at the entrance to one of the many narrow alleys between buildings of Central.

"No. It was done in the middle of the street, right outside this tavern." The MP pointed to the building they were next to. It was a building tucked away behind other buildings where not a lot of traffic ran through making the tavern itself not get any traffic. "We dragged the body into the ally so the citizens wouldn't see it. Meds are examining the body now but it's clear on how he died.

"Completely destroyed; bit of a signature of Scar's."

"And I highly doubt we have a copy cat on our hands."

"Hmm." Archer thought to himself for a moment. The MP interrupted him.

"Um, sir?"

"Yes?"

"I don't me to be rude but," he gestured over to Sarah, who was standing next to him, "Who is the girl?"

"This is the Major Elroy, the Jade Alchemist. She has recently been put under my jurisdiction."

"Pleasure," Sarah said sticking out her hand.

The officer seemed to smile at this. "Oh, yes! The youngest female state alchemist I've heard." He shook her hand.

"Yes, but let's get to business. Were there any eye witnesses," Sarah asked a serious tone in her voice.

"Yes."

"Did he see which way Scar was going?"

"He said Scar was heading East, down that alley," the man pointed.

"Alright!" Without any hesitation, Sarah started off in the direction Scar had headed off to.

"Wait," the MP shouted, "You're a State Alchemist! If he is on the loose, you're in danger! It's not safe for a young lady like you to be running about!"

"I want to find Scar as soon as possible, before he gets away," Sarah shouted back to him, just as she was disappearing around a corner.

The man was left silenced. Did she have such a strong sense of justice that made her determined to find Scar? He turned to Archer.

"Don't worry. I'll follow after her. If you find anymore leads contact me immediately." Archer headed off in the same direction as Sarah.

Sarah ran down the alleys of Central one thought on her mind. 'It's Scar,' she thought to herself. 'I got to find him! This maybe my only chance!'

~oOo~

The sky was painted orange as the sun started to make its decent across the evening sky. Sarah's feet carried here down the abandoned back streets of Central as quickly as her heart was racing. The smile on her face said it all: excitement. It was only her first day out on the field and she was already on the hunt for some dangerous criminal. This sort of adventure was the kind of thing she had craved her entire life and now here it way, happening. This was one of the most exciting moments she had ever encountered.

However, as her pace started to slow, that smile on her face started to fade. She stopped, finding herself in a back alley intersection, her breath coming in huffs. She looked around the empty alley way.

"Archer?" When had she lost sight of him? She hadn't been in this part of Central yet, though she pushed the thought of being lost out of her mind. She thought she should find her way back soon, seeing on how evening was passing by so quickly.

"That silver chain. You're a State Alchemist."

Sarah turned around quick upon hearing that voice. She was thrilled, in a both positive and negative way. In one of the alleys a dark figure stood. When he stepped into the open, the smile returned on Sarah's face. "Scar," she whispered his name.

"The newly named Jade Alchemist," he said after getting a look at her face.

"Well, news travels pretty fast, huh?"

"God punishes you for your sins," Scar said, raising his right hand. His footsteps were heavy has he advanced slowly toward her. "I will give you a moment to pray, girl."

"No thank you," Sarah replied. She backed away a bit, as she clapped her hands behind her back, getting ready for an attack that she knew was coming.

"Very well." At that moment, he lunged at her, the electric sparks of alchemic power leaping off of his arm.


	23. Chapter 23

For an instant, the sight of Scar jumping at her with the intent to kill in his eyes, made her frozen to the spot.

Just in time, she felt a strong arm pull her away. Scar missed her and collided with the road, destroying it as an explosion of dust and rubble filled the air. Sarah felt her back press against the brick wall of one of the buildings and a warm body press up against her in an attempt to protect her from the explosion.

Sarah opened her eyes, though she hadn't realized she had closed them, and looked up at the person that had pulled her out of the way.

"Archie."

He groaned in pain as he looked into her eyes. "Are you alright Major Elroy?" Sarah nodded her head and squeaked in surprise when Archer began pulling her quickly down an alley. She looked back and saw Scar emerge from the rubble and look around before spotting them and beginning the chase.

The walls of the backstreets of central twisted and turned every which way as Archer and Sarah desperately ran for their lives. After a while Archer glanced back, and when he saw that Scar was no longer behind them he slowed down. Sarah felt something warm on her arm and looked down to see crimson liquid flowing onto her hand from Archer's arm, the blood coming from multiple wounds on his shoulder and back.

"Why didn't you say you were hurt Archie?"Sarah asked as she looked at how badly he was hurt.

"We needed to get away. Besides I've had worse," He said as he attempted to redirect her attention from his wound, her concern making him blush.

"Why did we run? I wanted to stay and fight." The tone in her voice didn't show that she was mad, but more frustrated that Scar had gotten a way.

"You wouldn't have stood a chance."

"I could have fought!"

"No!"

His features showed anger, as he turned to her, but then they soon became aware of how closely they were standing to one another in the small alley they were in. Archer's features softened and Sarah suddenly felt his eyes on her.

"Colonel-"

"I don't want to see you hurt. . . . . Sarah" he whispered sweetly. He stepped close to her. His eyes seemed unsure of something before they slid shut as he gently pressed his lips onto hers in a hesitant kiss. Sarah could feel the color rise in her cheeks. He pulled away and looked around, his own embarrassment showing in his face.

"L-let's get moving, "he said as he began walking out of the alley. Sarah followed after a few moments, her face cherry red.

~oOo~

"It's about time you called Kitten. I've missed talking to you," Katie could hear the smirk in his voice. She had been able to get away from Edward and Alphonse for a few minutes before their train came.

"Torturing me is more like it and I can't honestly say that I've missed you" she replied sarcastically.

"Ouch Kitten. That hurts," she rolled her eyes at his comment.

"Too bad Kimblee…how is Sarah doing? Did she pass the test? Is she alright?"Katie asked quickly, worried about her friend.

Kimblee sighed, "She's doing fine. Yes she passed her test; her name's the Jade Alchemist. She's doing alright and she's in my division so I can keep an eye on her. I'm doing fine too by the way" Katie smiled, her attitude changing.

"I'm glad she passed and that she's not hurt….I'm glad you're alright too and thank you for keeping an eye on her" Kimblee choked on his water, not quite believing what he had just heard.

"Care to repeat that Kitten?" There was a slight pause before Katie spoke again "….I'm glad that you're alright as well Kimblee."

He smirked and was about to reply when he was notified that he had another call coming in. "Kitten I need you to be quiet" when he got no reply he smirked and allowed the call through.

"Kimblee, its Archer. I had gotten a reported sighting and another victim confirmed on the Scar killings. Major Elroy and I went to check on it. We ran into him- "

"WHAT THE HELL KIMBLEE! WHY WOULD YOU LET HER GO AFTER SCAR!"

"…Kimblee are you using your line for personal calls again?"

"Kitten I told you to be quiet."

"I DON'T FLIPPIN CARE WHAT YOU TOLD ME TO DO RIGHT NOW KIMBLEE! ARE YOU TWO INSANE! ARCHER IS SHE HURT AT ALL!"Katie asked frantically, angry at the two of them for allowing Sarah to go after Scar.

"No. She wasn't hurt at all."Archer answered quickly but calmly. They heard her sigh with relief.

"Good," she said happily before her tone darkened, "Now please listen closely. If I come back and Sarah's hurt in any way, if she's in less than the perfect physical and mental condition that I left her in, I promise the two of you that I will castrate you, gorge your balls off with a blunt knife, and force you to eat them. Goodbye" Katie chirped happily before hanging up on the two stunned men. She ran a hand through her hair as she heard the train whistle blow. She ran through the crowds and quickly found Ed and Al.

"What took you so long?" Ed whined as they hurried aboard the train, finding an empty compartment just before the train took off. The three quickly sat down after stowing their luggage in the racks above their heads.

"Someone told me that if I called them then they would keep me updated on how Sarah was doing," Katie stated calmly before sitting down next to Al, across from Ed, and looked out the window.

Understanding lit his face and for once in his life, he decided to keep his mouth shut. After a few minutes of looking out at the passing scenery, Katie turned to Ed.

"What's today's date?" Ed quickly glanced down at a paper he had grabbed before they got on the train.

"It's July 31st" Katie's eyes widened before she got a thoughtful look on her face.

"Wow time flies fast when you're having adventures. My birthday's in three days" Katie stated nonchalantly.

"What!" Ed's eyes grew big as he looked at her.

"How old will you be Katie," Alphones asked from next to her.

"Fifteen."

"Oh that's the same age I am," Al said.

"Yeah, I know," Katie said with a smile. She leaned in her chair and gazed out the window with bit sweet smile on her face. "I'm a little sad that I won't be spending it with all my friends."

Ed watched her as continued to look out at the passing scenery with a smile but with sadness in her eyes.

Katie watched as the sun finally disappeared from the world, as night descended upon them. The girl continued to stare out the window, thinking of places far way and friends even farther.


	24. Chapter 24

"Wow! Dublith," Katie shouted excited as she make her way out of the station. "It's a lot warmer than I thought it would be."

Katie had slept though most of the train ride, only recalling a blurred memory of switching trains in Rush Valley which she was half asleep for.

"Well it is in the southern part of Amestris," Edward said, half yawning as he stepped out into the morning sun.

"Huh, I didn't think about that. At least it's a nice day and we get to see Izumi!"

Ed and Al made a face. "You're EXCITED to see her?" They seemed complete bewildered.

"Well of course! Aren't you?"

"No. I'm just here to find out about Parry's lead," Edward said grabbing his bag and heading down the street. He remembered their conversation from three months ago like it had only been yesterday:

~oOo~

"_A f-few months a-ago a wo-women approached me and g-gave me th-this package. In-inside of it there w-was instr-structions on how to o-open The G-gate with a child, a-along with a vile full of a r-red liquid." _

"_Parry, did you just say a red liquid," Ed asked serious. _

"_Y-yeah, sh-she said it w-would amplify m-my alchemy. It s-seemed t-too d-dangerous and I-I d-didn't wa-want to get R-Roxanne, s-so I didn't u-use it. But then, th-that night . . ." Parry trailed off, recalling what he had done. _

"_Where were you when you got that package?" _

"_D-Dublith. I-I was v-visiting s-sister's grave."_

~oOo~

'This could be the next step to getting our bodies back. I have to find out more," Edward thought to himself. He looked down at his automail hand then glanced over at Katie who was cheerfully chatting with Alphones about something. Clenching his hand he headed off in a sprint down the road. "Come on guys! Let's just hurry up and get there!"

~oOo~

"W-well this is it."

The three of them stood in front of Izumi's door.

"Aren't you going to knock brother," Alphones asked.

"You do it."

"That's not fair! You're older! You do it!"

"Sure it is! Little brothers do as their big brothers say!"

"Ed you're so mean!"

Ignoring the boys spat, Katie knocked on the door three times.

"Ah! What did you do that for?"

"You wanted to knock on the door, right?"

"Well-"

Edward's words were cut off as the door slowly swung open. Katie slid back behind Alphonse. Even though she knew a lot about Izumi and Sig Curtis she was still a bit shy about meeting new people. Sig appeared in the door way and smiled down at the boys.

"It's nice to see you two again." He turned back to the inside of the house as he shouted, "Hey Izumi the Elric brothers are back." They heard footsteps coming towards the door as Ed and Al shivered slightly.

"Well let's see if you've improved at all!" Izumi immediately attacked them, leaving Katie on the porch watching them fight. Sig noticed the girl and looked down at her.

"Who are you?" Katie looked up at him and smiled shyly.

"I'm Katie. It's nice to meet you Mr. Curtis." He was about to say something when Izumi piped in.

"You're their traveling companion. Are you an alchemist?" She nodded her head.

"Yes." Izumi kicked Alphonse sending him crashing into Edward before directing an attack at Katie. Ed looked at her worried. Though she sparred with him and Alphonse they sometimes went easy on her which he knew his old teacher would not. Katie dodged the attack and clapped her hands together and putting them to the wall before pulling out a Bo staff. After a few minutes of trading attacks back and forth Izumi landed a kick to Katie's stomach, sending her flying back into Ed who had just gotten up.

Izumi shook her head at the pile of limbs that belonged to the three on the ground. "Honestly. If you two are the ones teaching her then you need to work harder. Edward, Alphonse you've been neglecting your training."

Edward grinned as he scratched the back of his head nervously. "Sorry teacher." He and Al got to their feet.

Katie got up as well, hiding behind Al's large body slightly. Izumi smiled at them. "Why don't you come in? We can talk about your friend here. Like how she can do alchemy the same way you two can."

Edward swallowed. "Y-yes teacher." They followed her into the house.

Izumi looked over at Katie who nervously returned her gaze. "I-it's nice to meet you Mrs. Curtis. I'm Katie.'

"So the boys told you about me," Izumi said hearing the girl use her name. "Well whatever they told you were all lies."

"...Um...Well they weren't exactly the ones who told me about you...''

Izumi looked back at her. The way she had said that made it sound like someone else had told her but there was no one else who could. She gave her a good look over before turning to the kitchen table. "Sit down boys and girls. We're gonna have a talk. I'll get you some tea."

Katie looked over at Ed and Al nervously. "Um...How do you think she's going to react?"

"I-I'm not sure," Al stuttered.

Katie chewed her bottom lip nervously as she sat down next to the boys. Sid helped Izumi prepare the tea before bringing it to the table. Izumi looked at the three of them sternly. "Please explain what you meant earlier." Katie's fingers rubbed the edges of her cup. "Well what I meant was that while Ed and Al didn't tell me much about you I already know plenty. You see I'm from a different universe on the other side of The Gate and there this world is fictional."

Izumi stared at Katie. The girl felt uncomfortable under that gaze. It was like she was staring directly into her soul and Katie was convinced that's what she was doing as Izumi finally replied after a long moment. "I believe you."

Katie let out a sigh of relief. "Thank god. I was beginning to think that you'd think I was crazy."

"Well maybe you are a little." She put her cup down with a hard click. "You just blurting out your secret like that, you have to be a little crazy to do that. Be careful who you tell from now on"

Katie smiled slightly down into her tea. Izumi's attitude reminded her of her mother's slightly when her mom was in a good mood. "Yes ma'am." She turned to Edward. "See Ed, I told you she was nice. You kept going on about her like she was an evil demon."

A smile spread across Izumi's lips but there was still a clear air of anger. "Now what is this about you boys saying I'm an evil demon?" Edward spoke up, a small stutter in his voice, "It's n-nothing. Th-This one is such a kidder." Edward scratched the back of his head nervously. Izumi's face turned serious again. "So you boys can start off by tell me what has happened. Al, that armor is empty isn't it? And Ed, Your arm and leg are automail."

Katie blinked as Ed tried to stutter out an explanation. "Wow...Sarah's and my arrival here really messed up the story line. I thought this had already been explained. No wonder Ed kept freaking out on the train ride."

"Sarah? There are others," Izumi asked.

Yeah, my best friend Sarah. You see this is one of our favorite fictional works and we were goofing off at lunch and pretended to open the gate since alchemy doesn't work in our world. We saw the gate and next thing we knew we ended up here." Katie's eyes darkened in color as she stared down into her tea. "We had a fight a few months back. We were deciding what to do while we were here. I decided to go with Ed and Al to see if I could find us a way home. Sarah...she kind of gave up on the idea. She doesn't want to live on a small sliver of hope. So she joined the military. She's become the first female state alchemist."

"Huh, the military," Izumi scoffed, but she looked down at her cup with sympathy. "I'm sure it was a hard choice to make for her." Their voices were still for a moment. "Perry brought them here," Ed spoke up.

Izumi looked at him curiously. "You mean the Perry who lived here as a child?"

Edward blinked. "Do you know him?"

"Yes. He grew up here with his sister…he was so depressed when she ended up dying…So he's the one responsible for bringing them here? How do you plan to get them back?"

"Perry said he came back here to visit his sister's grave and a woman approached him. She gave him a red stone that amplified his alchemy and instructions on how to open the gate with a child."

Izumi looked at Ed sharply. "Did he actually use it! Is the child alright!"

"It was his niece, Roxanne Corsair, the daughter of his sister," Al replied. "He used her to open the gate."

Izumi was silent for a few moments. "…Is Roxanne alright?"

"Surprisingly well," Ed said.

Izumi sighed in relief before glancing back over at Katie. "…If it's not possible to get back home what will you do?" Katie stiffened and didn't bother to lift her head. "…I'm not sure…"

Izumi was quiet for a moment then spoke. "Your friend took the easy path. It's an understandable choice but she was only running away. She fears the possibility that there is no way for you to return." Izumi looked at Katie. "The road ahead of you is full of hardships and tears. Be strong. Keep moving forward."

Katie nodded her head and smiled. "Don't worry Mrs. Curtis. I'll be fine." Izumi saw that there was something off in her eyes though Ed and Al seemed to buy her smile.

Izumi ignored it. "So why are you here? To find that woman? Are you really going to open the gate like Perry did?"

Ed glanced at Katie. "Al and I want to use it to get our old bodies back but yes I suppose we'd find a way to open the gate to get them back home."

"I hope you don't use a child," Izumi said sternly.

"No way!" Ed and Al seemed to say at the same time. Katie smile at Ed. "I'd hope not. If you even thought about doing it that way Sarah and I would turn you black and blue."

"Especially Sarah," Katie added. "What do you mean," Al asked in interest. Katie pressed her finger to her lips cutely. "It's a secret." Ed felt color cross his face at the sight. Izumi smiled as she stood. "I need to go to the market since there are three more mouths to feed."

Katie looked up at Izumi. "May I come with you? I can help you carry the groceries."

She smiled. "Sure. Girl time-blah!" Blood dripped form her mouth.

Sid immediately stood up and helped balance her as he cleaned her up. Katie hurried over to her. "Mrs. Curtis are you alright!" While she had seen this happen in the anime it was a completely different thing to see it in person.

"I'm alright….I just need my medicine."

Sid had the medicine ready to give to her before she and Katie were out the door. Katie looked up at her. "Mrs. Curtis do you know if Alkahestry could help you?"

"Alkahestry?" she asked as they walked toward the market together.

"Yeah. It's like alchemy except it's used to heal. It can heal most medical things so I was wondering if you thought it would help you."

She thought for a moment. "No. It may give me another year but you know my situation."

Katie's eyes saddened. "Yeah…It's just…I don't want Ed and Al to lose you…They care about you a lot and they've already lost so much."

"Both life and death are a necessary part of life. Those boys know that."

Katie nodded her head and sighed. "That's true…" They walked in silence for a bit before getting to the market.

They started going through the market, picking up supplies. They were having a great time when a commotion was heard ahead of them.

* * *

Kit-Kat: Ok you guys there's someone who's going to be making an entrance next chapter. A certain man who we all know and love who can eat just as much as Ed can. If you can guess who it is then you get 20 points.


	25. Xingese Princes are sometimes thieves

WishesIWasHuman: Wishes here. Its been so long seens I last added a note. I don't really keep up with the posted chapters. I can't believe you guys have read up to the time skip. I had lots of fun writing Sarah and Katie's fight. I look back on some of these chapters and think "Wow! I really love this sentince! The word choose! The way it sounds! Oh it makes my heart leap!" And then there are places were I am like "Gosh this is bad. Its got Mary Sue all over it!" But I live without regret. This story is all about my enjoyment! And I'm having lots of fun writing it. (In fact its probably pretty selfish to write stories like this one) So I'm glad there are some of you who like reading it. Because I like it too. Thats all for now. Kisses and Wishes! -WishesIWasHuman

* * *

They started going through the market, picking up supplies. They were having a great time when a commotion was heard ahead of them.

"Get back here!"

"Thief!"

"Stop that man!"

Suddenly, a Xing man wearing a thin yellow jacket came pushing through the crowd toward them. He had a piece of bread in his mouth and was running from some angry men.

Katie's eyes widened as she quickly turned to Izumi. "Ok I'm going to sound very crazy again but please listen. That man running is Ling and he'll end up being an important ally to Ed and Al. Can he please come stay with you while we're here Mrs. Curtis?"

Before Izumi could open her mouth, Ling came running toward them. He tripped which caused the men chasing to catch up. He got back on his feet and hid behind Izumi and Katie.

The men stopped in front of them. "Move! I'm going to cut that scandal's fingers off for stealing my product! That will teach him!" Katie laughed nervously.

"I am so sorry for my friend here sirs. I had sent him ahead to see if there was any good food and apparently he found some. What was the price of what he took?" The men glared at her before giving the price of the bread he stole. Katie nodded her head and pulled a few coins that she had gotten on their travels out of her pocket and paid the men. They grumbled but turned and left. Ling poked his head out from behind Izumi.

"Hey thanks for the save."

"You're welcome. I'm Katie." She smiled cutely and stuck out her hand for him to shake. He stuck his hand out likewise but didn't shake it.

"Ling."

She kept herself under control so that she wouldn't spaz and fangirl attack him like she had when she first met Ed. They were in public plus he'd probably fight her back unlike Ed who was actually calmer. She lowered her hand and glanced up at Izumi, her eyes begging for an answer to the question she had asked. Izumi didn't say anything as she shoved her shopping bag in Ling's hands. She started walking ahead and turned to look at them.

"What are you doing? Move your ass! We've still got things to do!"Katie smiled and looked at Ling's confused face.

"Why don't you come stay with us for a bit? That way you won't be getting into trouble." His stomach gurgled and she laughed. "And you'll get food to eat without stealing it." Ling smiled at the word food. Katie grabbed his elbow and pulled him along for a few steps before letting go. "Um Ling…your friends hiding in the shadows…They can come out if they want to…"Ling darkened for a slight moment but then his eyes lightened again in his normal cheer manner.

"Ha-ha, I'm not sure what you mean." Katie shook her head and sighed.

"I'll drop the subject for the moment Ling but my guess is that when we get to Izumi's they'll come out. It'd be rude not to feed your friends after all." Ling stands still for a minute. He looked at her suspiciously as she caught up with Izumi. He looked up at the roof tops as if looking at something. Then he slowly went off to help the girls with their bags, unquestioningly.

Lanfan and Fu watched from the shadows, on their guard even more so than usual. The girl had known they were there even though they had given nothing away. There was something strange about her. Lan Fan's eyes narrowed as she regarded the smiling red haired girl. She hadn't seen someone with that hair color before. Though for the most part she seemed normal, there was an aloof air about her.

Katie had tried to talk with Ling a bit but he was very tight lipped. Katie sighed as they approached Izumi's house. Perhaps she had blown it when she had brought up Lan Fan and Fu.

Ling approached the house with caution. This country still new to him. Was this sort of thing a custom here? And then there was the girl. How did she know about his men? Plus she didn't seem afraid of him because he was Xing. The people of this country seem to be afraid of anyone who is different. It saddened him really. But she looked his way with kind eyes. He didn't understand her. He wanted to know so he walked up to her, his hand touching hers. "Hey, how did you-?

"Hey Katie its goo-" Ed had come out to help with groceries and stopped in his tracks at the sight of Ling. Katie smiled at Ed. "Hey Ed. Mrs. Curtis and I got lots of food...what is it?" Ling's hand was still touching hers but she didn't seem to mind it. Ling straightened up and pointed at Ed.

"Is he your little brother?"

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING A PINT SIZE MIDGET!" Ed screamed. Katie giggled.

"No he's not my little brother. He's a good friend of mine that I'm traveling with. He's actually older than me." Katie looked over at Ed. "Ed please calm down. It's rude to scream at another guest." Ling watched with interest how Ed grumbled but calmed down. He smiled knowingly as he thought of a fun game. He squeezed Katie's hand.

"How about we go help your Aunt with dinner."Ed's eyes narrowed with anger as Katie blushed lightly.

"O-ok. But just to let you know Izumi isn't my aunt." They followed Izumi into the kitchen area. Ling called back at Ed.

"Hey, little brother! You should come too." He laughed because he knew it made the short blond he just met mad. It was fun to watch him make a fuss. Katie laughed at their antics.

"You might want to lay off on the teasing Ling. Ed might end up going overboard on one of his rants."

"You seem pretty comfortable, considering I'm a complete stranger." Katie smiled softly.

"Yes and no. But mainly my policy is give everyone an equal chance to prove themselves and show their true colors before judging them. That's why I can be comfortable around you."

Ling felt something inside his chest tighten, making his feet stop, his eyes on the girl. He smiled, whispering to himself. "She's something."

Dinner was soon ready and they all sat at the table together: Ed, Al, Katie, Sid, Izumi, Mason, and Ling. It was a really quiet dinner except for the sounds of Ed and Ling scarfing down dinner. Katie sighed as she glanced between the two of them. "It's like some kind of bitter rival between brothers to see who can eat the most."

"Oh yeah, Ed and I would sometimes do that," Alphones said, sitting in front of an empty plate.

"Really? Maybe it's a guy thing?"

A pleasant conversation began after that, Katie's comfort level with everyone rising in effect. Despite the fact that only a few months ago they had only been ink on paper, these characters were turning more human to her every day.

Dinner ended without any mishaps and soon Katie was heading to bed in one of the spare rooms. She was lucking to get her own room with the house being so full. The girl entered the room with two plates of food that she had snuck away and approached the open window.

"Listen I know you're out here. Why don't you come eat? You must be hungry after today."

Only the sounds of crickets answered her call. She placed the plates down on the windowsill with a sigh.

"How do you know about us," a stern and serious voice said. Katie turned to see Ling standing in the doorway as he quietly closed the door behind him. She hadn't even heard him come in, which was a bit scary. His body language said that he was here on business.

"Hi Ling. Here to say good night," she said sweetly but her smile faded as he didn't reply. "I'm not going to get out of this without a really good explanation am I?"

"Are you a spy from another clan?"

She shook her head. "No, I'm not Ling! I have nothing to do with any of the clans from your country and your competition to become the emperor!" She seemed a bit offended by his comment but before she knew it he rushed across the room toward her. Her body hit the bed as he jumped on top of her, sword at her throat.

"Don't you dare take such a tone with me!" The way he was speaking, the look in his eyes, and the feeling of steel pressed to her skin made the thought of death cross Katie's mind. She felt a shiver of pure fear run her spin.

"Now tell why I shouldn't kill you right here and now," he hissed.

She tried to struggle against him but he just pressed the sword harder against her throat. Her emotional barriers began to break as memories flooded her mind. Her eyes darkened with pain, sorrow, and anguish as she met Ling's cold eyes.

"Honestly Ling I have no reason as to why you shouldn't kill me. I can give you my word that I'm not a spy for a clan but you don't know me well enough to accept my word." Tears welled in her eyes and she shut them so they wouldn't spill. Her voice quivered as she whispered. "If you're going to go through with killing me then please tell Ed and Al to tell Sarah that I'll miss her."

Katie waited a moment for the feeling of death but instead she felt a thumb brush away the tears that had fallen despite her best efforts. She opened her eyes to see a smiling Ling, looking down at her as he sheathed his sword.

"Don't cry. I believe you."

Katie felt a sigh of relief escape her lips as the last drops of tears ran down her cheek. Ling still hovered over her, his eyes intense. "I can tell you're different than the others," he said as he brushed a lock of hair out of her face, "You're eyes tell me so."

A tint of pink touched Katie's face but she felt a wave of calm come over her. The danger in his eyes was gone and kindness replaced them.

Katie sat up and Ling sat in front of her on the bed. She told him how she knew him, though left out anything he really didn't need to know. She also spoke of her past and Sarah. Ling seemed very interested. There was a draw to him that Katie hadn't felt in a long time, like she could tell him anything. They laughed and talked, nearly staying up all night. Ling was asleep next to her on the bed when the hour struck 3am. Her gaze fell upon the window. The two plates were gone.

~oOo~

The first rays of daylight hit Katie's eyes causing her to snuggle deeper into the soft yet firm warmth next to her. As the birds chirped, her senses and the memory of last night caused her eyes to snap open. Her head was resting on Ling's bare chest, his arm tightly around her as he continued to sleep. She remembered how when she had finally begun to fall asleep he had reached out and pulled her against him. She hadn't even struggled but instead had snuggled into him since he was warm. Though she would've been content to lay there she heard the sounds of Ed and Al awakening. She sighed as she tried to move but his grip just tightened instead. She began gently shaking his shoulders, trying to get him to wake up before anyone walked in on them in this awkward position.

"Ling….Ling…Wake up" She whispered softly as his arm tightened around her waist.

"Ugh….No," Ling said in a tired voice as he pulled closer, seeking warmth. He rolled them over and rested his head on her chest, making her cheeks burst into flames. She sighed and shook his shoulders again.

"Ling please I need you to get up. Everyone's waking up and I don't want people drawing the wrong conclusion."

"No. It's fine," Ling groaned, making himself comfortable on her with his arms still wrapped around her. She groaned and flicked his forehead.

"Ling please get up. I need to get up and get changed…plus if I don't get up then you won't get any food Ling." He moaned as he lifted himself up. His jacket had slipped off at one point during the night and he now hovered over her, his chest bare except for the bandage wraps. Her cheeks got even redder and she attempted to glare as he smirked down at her, sleep beginning to fade from his face. "What exactly do you find funny Ling?"

"Your bed head looks good," he said with a chuckle. "I could wake up to that every day." She rolled her eyes as she playfully stuck her tongue out at him.

"That's nice to know Romeo. Now come on I need you out so I can get dressed." He opened his mouth to respond but she cut him off. "Ling if you don't let me get changed then you will not get any food." He quickly shut his mouth and got off of her. He bent down and picked up his jacket and grabbed his sword from the bedside table. He watched her as she went over to her small pack and took out some clothes. As she stood up he hugged her tightly before slipping out of her room like a shadow. As he entered the room he was using thoughts of her filled his mind.

He thought about her puzzling reaction last night. About how he had tried to apologize and explain to her but she just shook her head and smiled softly, saying that she understood his reasons and that his reaction was to be expected. They had talked for many hours, both of them revealing things about their pasts. Only Lanfan and Fu knew more than she did but that was because they'd been with him since he was a young boy. He rubbed the back of his neck as he yawned. He had felt very comfortable and a bit safe last night with her next to him. There was definitely a pull towards her that made him want to understand her. He sighed as he laid down on the bed. Perhaps he'd get to spend more nights with her.


	26. Katie's Birthday

Kit-Kat: Hey everyone I got another author's note for you. Along with this chapter update I'll also be posting the first chapter of A New Order, a hetalia story that Wishes and I are also doing. Please check it out and let me know what you think of it. That's all folks!

* * *

The morning passed quickly by as Katie helped out around the house. Currently she was washing the dishes from breakfast. _I swear that Edward and Ling are somehow related! None of the guys I knew who were pigs ever ate that much!_

Ed glanced over at Katie before turning back to Alphonse. "What do you think she'd want for her birthday?"

"I don't know brother…couldn't we just ask her?" Ed shook his head as Katie called out.

"The two of you have been over there whispering and looking oddly at me. If you have something to ask then just do so." Ed and Al glanced at each other before Ed spoke up as Ling entered the room unnoticed.

"We wanted to know what you wanted for your birthday tomorrow."

"It's your birthday?" Ling asked curiously as he walked over to Katie. Ed's eyes narrowed in jealousy. He didn't like it when this strange newcomer was so close to her. He became angrier as Ling smirked at him and nonchalantly brushed a strand of hair from her face and tucked it behind her ear.

"Brother are you alright?" Alphonse asked in concern. He had never seen his brother act like this before.

"Yeah I'm fine Al," He walked up to Katie's other side with Al following behind him. "So what is it that you want?" She turned to look at him.

"Ed can't I be content? I mean after all I've been able to come here, meet all of you, and have a bit of an adventure. That's enough for me." Ed's face was neutral as she sighed. "You're going to be persistent until I pick something aren't you?" He nodded his head. "Fine. If you want to get me something that badly then what about a book?"

"A book? Why a book? I thought that girls were more into jewelry or something like that."

"Ed I thought that you already figured out that I'm not like most girls. Besides I'm not a big jewelry person." She turned back to the dishes as Alphonse piped up.

"What type of book would you like?" She paused for a moment in thought.

"Either something in politics or mythology."

"Those two are complete opposites of each other!" Katie laughed as she playfully splashed Ed with water.

"Yes but those are the things I want to know more about. So there now you have something you can get me." Ed smirked as he splashed her back and it quickly turned into a small water fight. Izumi watched with a smile from the doorway. It was good to see the brothers laughing light heartedly. As she turned to leave she shook her head. Knowing those two they'd probably try to do something to impress the girl tomorrow and it will end up causing trouble for her.

The rest of the day passed fairly quickly. Ed and Al had gone with Izumi to the market today and Ling had disappeared, leaving Katie to have some peace and quiet as she prepared for dinner. She frowned as she stared out the window. She honestly liked it here better than her own universe and she didn't stick out as bad as she did at home but she couldn't stay here. It wasn't her place plus she had to find a way to get Sarah home. She owed her friend at least that. She thought about her birthday last year and decided that no matter what happened tomorrow that so long as they remembered it then it'd be better than her last.

~oOo~

"Tomorrow is Katie's birthday."

Havoc looked up from the Zippo that he had been playing with in his hands and brought his gaze to the girl who had broken the silence that had fallen in between conversation topics. She was sitting at the desk, her desk. Havoc thought it was unfair that she got a desk and not him. Then again, she was a major and her department was a lot smaller then his. Anyway, she sat in the chair with her feet propped up on the desk. Her normal smile was replaced with a straight line and her eyes held the words she had meant to say when she said, 'tomorrow is Katie's birthday.' However, Havoc didn't ask about it. He had learned not to bring up that sort of thing with her. He quickly learned the right thing to say in this sort of situation.

"You want to go drinking tonight?"

Sarah quickly stood from her seat.

"NO!" Armstrong, Hughes, and Archer's voices all boomed at once.

Sarah sat back down with a sigh. Kimblee chuckled from his desk, which was close to hers.

"Oh, come on. Why not," Havoc said playfully, his unlit cigarette wiggling in his mouth as he talked.

"This would be the second time this week. You're gonna kill her liver," Armstrong boomed.

"Not to mention the fact that she is only 17," Hughes quickly added. "You're corrupting my baby girl," he pouted, pulling Sarah into a hug.

"Hughes, what did I say about doing that in the office," Archer said making a face. By 'that' he meant him hugging her. Hughes had a habit of being cute with Sarah like he would his own Elicia. He even planted a kiss on her cheek every once in awhile, which caused a fit of giggles from Sarah and Archer to come in the door with a scolding. He kept saying that it was against office policy but no one really cared about. Archer hadn't cared about it ether till recently.

Hughes made a face that was a mix of annoyance and pouting. Kimblee answered his call as the alchemist adjusted in his chair. "Don't mind him Hughes. He is just jealous." Archer shot him a look before he could say anymore. Sarah tried not to look too much at Archer.

"Don't worry. I'll make sure she is ok," Havoc said.

"But-"

"I'm going out," Sarah stood from her chair. "It's what I need at a time like this."

The boys stayed silence as she made her way out the office. Hughes put a hand on Havoc's shoulder. "Watch her. Something is wrong today," Hughes said, in a quiet tone. The blonde nodded and Sarah called his name. He slipped from the desk and followed after her.


	27. Love lost and Love forced

Sarah loved the comfort of liquor. The horrible thoughts that came with being sober easily drifted away with every drop. It wasn't that she had escaped reality, but more that it made her think more happily. She liked not having to think about horribly sad things. Plus, a splash of booze made everyone a little more relaxed at the bar, giving them a great playful time together. Havoc was a little careful about letting her go crazy, on Hughes' request. However, she still managed a bit. She was a little tippy by the time they had started on their way home as she started to sing about all the different drinks she had that night.

"A bottle of Excai, a shot or two of Southern Comfort, and a few servings of Ruby's Beer!"

"You know how to hold you're liquor," Havoc commented as he walked next to her, an arm around her shoulder as he made sure to keep her close in the darkness.

"It's because I'm Scotch-Irish," She said, waving a finger at him. "The only part that makes me drunk is the damn Sicilian part. But that's ok because that part makes me pretty so it can stick around." She then laughed at her own joke.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," He said, laughing at her himself. "But I don't think any PART of you MAKES you pretty."

"Does that mean I'm not pretty at all Havoc?" She asked him softly. He shook his head frantically.

"No, no that's not what I meant. It…you're…"

Unable to fully express what he wanted his words to mean, Havoc's arm slipped down to Sarah's waist as he pulled her close to him. He stared into her deep brown eyes for a moment, recalling all the feelings that had flowed through him whenever he had met her eyes. It wasn't the same kind of love he found in those other women. It was different, but he wasn't sure how. His eyes slowly slid shut as his lips met hers passionately, desperately trying to covey his message of love to her through inexpressible words. But these kisses were different too; different from the ones he had gotten from passed lovers. The kiss was pure passion but there was no spark of romantic. There was love, so much of it, but no romance. Both of them drew back with funny looks on their faces.

"That was-," He started but she finished for him

"A bit awkward huh," Sarah said, wiping her mouth.

For some reason, both of them smiling and laughing. He took her hand as he walked her the rest of the way home. As they arrived his eyes met hers, a tint of sadness in them. He knew now that this was the end.

"You know I love you, right," he asked.

"Yes, but it's not the kind of love your looking for."

Damn she had a way with words.

It was quiet. He peaked at her face cutely. "One last kiss then?"

Sarah smiled, as if his question was simple a statement and no permission was needed. He learned to read her so well. Havoc leaned forward, almost hesitant but she gripped the back of his neck and pulled him forward, lips smashing together. He was surprised but wasn't at the same time. Havoc deepened the kiss as his passion and love for her went into every second the kiss, pouring the last of his feelings for the brunette in front of him. His tongue entered her mouth, exploring her moist cavern for the last time. He pulled back slowly, savoring her on his lips. His eyes opened to meet hers, emotions swimming in both of their eyes. Those eyes made him want to throw himself back into his kiss and forget about his conflicting feelings. He wanted her. No, he had to sever his taste for her now. Tonight.

"Well, night Sarah. I'd better be getting some sleep before Roy works me to death tomorrow. He treats us like paper work slaves." He smiled and waved as he left. Sarah felt a smile twinge of pain settle in her chest. Was that it? But the feeling soon pasted. This was what was support to happen.

She got in with the spare key Fuery had given her. She went up to her bedroom as quietly as she possible could. She glanced around looking for the folder that Kimblee had given earlier that day which was to be her next assignment. She groaned as she realized that she had left it back at the office. She debated between going there now or waiting till morning and decided to go before she got a hangover.

~oOo~

None of the lights in the office had appeared to be on from the outside but now that she was here she could see that Archer was still in his office, working. She opened the door, the hinges squeaking slightly causing Archer to immediately turn around, his gun in his hand ready to fire if necessary. Upon seeing Sarah he lowered the gun and returned it to its holster, sighing.

"Well, aren't we trigger happy. What exactly could you be working on that puts you so on edge?"

"What are you doing here so late major," he asked avoiding the question as he turned back to his work.

"Archer, why did you kiss me?" His eyes widened as she simply blurted out her question, the alcohol impairing her ability to think before speaking. She hadn't meant to confront him about it now. It had just slipped out, probably because the thought had kept her mind running in circles and. His cheeks turned a light pink as he attempted to be serious.

"Major Elroy I have no inten-"

"Archie please answer the question." Sarah said in an almost irritated tone.

His eyes softened while his words were harsh. "I don't have to answer you Major. Now I suggest you go home and get some rest. It's late."

She took a threatening step forward, her teeth crunching together as her frustration rose higher. The booze wasn't exactly helping keep her calm. "Why don't you just answer the god damn question Frank!"

"You have no right to call your superior by his first name MAJOR! Now if you'll excuse-" He started to walk past her when a strange smell hit his nose and his eyes narrowed as he spun back around, their faces close together as he sneered. "Well it looks like someone was neglecting their duties in order to have fun with their lover!"

"Whatcha talkin bout Willis," she said, curiously. "I was-"

"You reek of cigarettes and cheap cologne!"

Feeling that he was a little too close for comfort she took a step back, causing him to take a step forward. "You smell like him! Why! I thought you two were just friends!" He growled at her as if he were livid about the possibility of them being together.

"We went out for drinks! You were there in the office when we talked about it!" She shouted back.

"I don't want you hanging around him!" He stepped forward again with even more rage and every time he did she flinched back, expecting him to hit her. That's how mad he was. She wasn't sure where her courage was coming from (probably the alcohol) but she kept shouting back even though he kept making his anger filled advancements.

"You have no right to tell me who I can be with and who I can't!"

"Oh yes I can! I don't want you with him or Mustang or anyone except me!" Her back hit the wall and his arms went to the spaces next to her pinning her there. His voice softened. "I don't want you with anyone but me Sarah."

She stared back at him, anger still holding in her eyes, and a single question on her lips: "Why?" But he only roughly pressed his lips to hers in response.

There was passion similar to Havoc's kiss but her very blood felt like it was on fire! He deepened the kiss, sucking on her lips as one of his hands came up to stroke her face.

She struggled against him pushing him off of her so she could speak. "Stop! Why are you-"  
"Quiet," he said with force in his tone as he pressed his body to her's and wrapped an arm around her waist. His lips met hers again with rough untamed passion. It was like he meant to swallow her whole. It scared her just a bit.

His tongue forced its way into her mouth, twisting around her tongue and stroking it as he drew a small groan from her. After several minutes of a rough yet passion filled kiss, he drew back as he stoked her cheek. Enjoying the way she was out of breath and her eyes were unfocused. "You should belong to me and only me." He murmured softly then turned as he marched out of the office.

Sarah stood in shock for a moment, her lips tingling with the electrical leftover effects of their passionate kiss. She flowed over to Archer's desk and looked down at his paperwork. Her eyes grew wide as she realized why he was so quick to pull out his gun.


	28. A possible deception?

Ling stroked Katie's hair as she slept, smiling softly down at her. It had been two weeks since he met her and while she wasn't the strongest and was a bit odd at times, he liked her quirks and found it cute that while she wasn't the best fighter, she still stood up for herself. He sighed as he breathed in her scent. Now if only he could figure out why she was so precious to him. He hadn't known her that long though he felt as if he had known her for his entire life. And it wasn't like he had to like her for political reasons. There was just something about her.

"Young Lord." He turned to face the window, seeing Lan Fan and Fu there. "Young Lord we need to speak." Ling grudgingly untangled himself from the sheets and unwrapped himself from Katie. He sat on the edge of the bed and looked at them seriously.

"What is it?" He watched as they glanced towards Katie but held up his hand to silence Fu as he tried to speak. "It's alright she's a deep sleeper. Now what is it?" Lan Fan and Fu glanced at each other, unsure of how to properly present their thoughts. Fu cleared his throat.

"Young Lord we do not mean to insult you but hear us out. It's almost frightening how quickly you've become attached to this girl and we think it'd be best if you…distance yourself from her." Ling's eyes narrowed, his dark brown eyes glaring.

"That's not going to happen."

"Young Lord please listen, this could be a trap that the other clans have set up. She could just be waiting for the perfect moment to betray and kill you! Just look at her, her hair's as red as fire and her temperament is unstable! She's just playing with you and we don't want to see you hurt…please young lord we're just trying to look out for you."

"She would never do that! And while her anger may flare up now and then she's sweet and innocent as an angel for the most part! Give me proof that she's not what she claims to be and then I'll believe you." He growled angrily. He went to climb back under the covers next to her when Fu whispered just loud enough for him to hear.

"Then what respectable woman would allow you to sleep with them every night when you've only known each other for a short while?" Ling turned to answer when Katie groaned; her eyes fluttering open to reveal tired baby blues. Ling glanced at the window out of the corner of his eye to see that Lan Fan and Fu had already disappeared.

"Ling is something wrong. You look tense." He sighed as he shook his head, crawling back under the covers to cradle her tightly to his bare chest, kissing her forehead.

"I'm fine. Go back to sleep." She leaned up and timidly kissed his cheek in return before snuggling against him.

"Goodnight."

~oOo~

As Ed and Al finished up talking with Izumi Katie came out of her room. "Ready to go~" Izumi looked at the bat in her arms curiously.

"What is that thing?" Katie stared at her for a moment before realizing what she was talking about.

"Oh you mean Elric? He's my cute fuzzy companion. Isn't he adorable?" Katie held him out proudly to a slightly disturbed Izumi.

"Uh yeah sure he is." She said in not so reassuring fashion. Ling walked forward and casually leaned an arm on Katie's shoulder. He looked down at the bat and smirked as he looked up at Ed.

"He's cute. Is he your older brother little Edward? He's definitely got your looks." Ed's face turned almost red in anger as he began to rant.

"That THING is no brother of mine! If it were I would burn that ugly thing in a heartbeat! It's the creepiest thing I've ever seen!" Katie looked at him with big eyes, anger hidden behind her innocent look. Ed gulped as he tried to fix the situation. "I mean it's definitely cute in its own way and…and…" He sighed. "Fine. Sorry I said that." Katie smiled, the anger in her eyes vanishing quickly. Ling smiled down at her, though his thoughts were far away as he thought about his recent conversation with Lan Fan and Fu, the seed of doubt having taken root inside his heart. Was it possible that she was planning to betray him? He looked in her eyes as she smiled up at him and shook off the doubt for the time being, only seeing naivety in her eyes. As the group exited the house Izumi called out.

"Katie I need to talk with you." Katie turned and went back to where Izumi stood, leaving Ling, Ed, and Al at the front gates. Izumi reached out and ruffled Katie's hair fondly. "Now don't let those boys push you around. The path you're on is dangerous; I've seen Ed take a hard beating in the past. Make sure that they train you properly….Be careful." Katie smiled and stepped forward, hugging Izumi lightly.

"Thanks Mrs. Izumi." Izumi sighed and hugged her in return.

"Remember you're always welcome here. Now go on, they're waiting for you." Katie smiled before running down and joining the boys. They chatted lightly, Ling teasing Ed mainly, as they walked to the train station. Upon arrival Ed and Al went to go buy the tickets Ling took the time alone with Katie to talk. He reached down and took her hand in his, lightly squeezing it. She turned to look at him.

"What is it Ling?"

"Katie do you remember what happened the night of the day we met?"

"Yep you almost took my head off, thinking that I was a spy for another clan. Why?" Ling opened his mouth to reply when Ed and Al reappeared, yelling that they had to get on the train quickly before it left. Katie ran forward, pulling Ling with her till they got on the train. They quickly found a compartment and sat down, slightly out of breath. Katie sat down next to the window, Ed sitting next to her as Ling sat across from her and Al next to him. As the scenery passed by Katie's mind thought back to her birthday and how it was probably the best she'd ever had.

~Flashback~

Katie sighed as she changed into her nightgown. Tomorrow was her birthday and it would probably be the best she'd ever have. Now if only she could figure out why Ling had avoided her for the rest of the afternoon. Whenever she had called out to him and came close to him he had just left with one excuse or another. And he hadn't eaten as much during dinner, leaving early and heading toward his room. She yawned as she climbed into bed. Had she done something to frighten him off? She decided the answer was no as she felt a warm body press against her back, curling up next to her in her bed. "Is sleeping with me going to become a habit Ling?"

"I can't sleep without my teddy bear," he said in a pouting manner as he wrapped his arms around her.

"You've known me for only two days and suddenly I've become your teddy bear?" She shifted around in his arms so that she was facing him. "I'm not sure I want to be the teddy bear of someone I barely know especially when they've avoided me all afternoon and evening."

"Hmm, but I feel like I've known you for years and I have a wonderful reason for avoiding you."

"And that reason would be?" she huffed cutely as she crossed her arms. He sprang from the bed and went over to his canvas messenger bag where he kept his things. He pulled out two books and came back to bed. Katie sat up excitedly, a big smile on her face as she looked at the books. Ling held them up.

"This one is on xingese myths and the other is on xingese politics." 

"So you avoided me for half the day because of the books?"

"I get excited about things to much. If I had talked to you at all I would have blurted it out."

"Ahh that's sweet. I think these will definitely be one of the best birthday presents I've ever gotten." He smiled at that. "Then I think I deserve a reward for getting you such great presents." she froze and looked at him curiously.

"What kind of reward are we talking about?" She dared to ask. 

"Maybe a kiss." he said with out hesitation. She fell sideways on the bed, getting tangled up in the sheets as she looked up at him with an exasperated expression.

"Ling you've only known me for two days and vice versa so I'm going to say no."

"Well then I'll just take these back," he snatched back the books as a playful smile came over his face.

"Ah Ling come on. That's not fair." Katie untangled herself from the sheets and reached for the books but he kept pulling them back out of her reach.

"Now come on. It's just a kiss."

"No. A girl's first kiss is supposed to be special." He held the books over his head, forcing her to come close enough for him to grab her by the waist as she reached for the books. Her face flushed deep red at the close contact as she struggled against his strong grip. "Ling please give me the books." He gave her a short smile.

"Ok I'll give you back your books." He held out the books to her and when she grabbed them, he yanked the books back with her, landing a sweat timid kiss on her lips. Katie's eyes widened as he released her, her legs turning to jelly underneath her. Even though the kiss had been short, it felt as if there was fire running through her veins.

"Y-you kissed m-me…" she mumbled, surprised by his actions.

"Yeah," he said with a grin.

"W-why!" He scratched his head.

"Well because I wanted too."

"You shouldn't want to though. You've only known me for two days and no guy has ever wanted to kiss me before! So why would it be any different here!" Ling bent down and stroked her cheek, smiling as she automatically relaxed a little and leaned into the touch.

"I'm not sure but-" He lifted her chin so that their eyes met. "Something about that smile." Her cheeks darkened but a small smile appeared on her face.

"Aren't you the charmer…" he chuckled. He took her hand and led her back to the bed where he sat down and took up one of her books.

"Let me read you a bed time story." She giggled as he patted his lap, climbing into it and smiling as he kissed the top of her head. As she turned her head to talk to him he quickly landed another kiss on her lips. She sighed as he pulled away, resting her head against his neck.

"Ling as much as I'm enjoying this please don't let Ed catch you kissing me. He might explode." He smirked at the thought as he picked up the mythology book. Katie drifted asleep in his arms as he read stories to her of fantastic adventures of epic heroes and unbelievable creatures. He ran his figures through the sleeping girl's hair as he whispered.

"I wonder did you feel the fire too Katie?' he laid the book aside and pulled the covers over the two of them as he arms went around her. Holding her tightly to him, he fell into sleep's embrace.

~oOo~

"Katie…Katie?" Katie looked up startled as someone gently touched her shoulder. Ed looked at her curiously, his hand on her shoulder. Alphonse spoke up.

"Katie are you feeling alright? Your cheeks are flushed." Her cheeks darkened, but she smiled at them.

"I'm fine. I was remembering my birthday and how interesting it was." Ed's face darkened in color slightly as he chuckled.

"Which part were you remembering? Where we almost burnt down teacher's house or when you called teacher mom?" Katie rolled her eyes as he laughed at her expression.

"Neither. I was actually remembering a good dream I had." She glanced at Ling out of the corner of her eye to see him smiling in a satisfied manner. Alphonse looked at her curiously.

"What was the dream about?" Katie smiled and playfully pressed a finger to her lips.

"It's a secret~"


	29. Painting the Town Red

It was a slow week at the office. And by the end of it, the even status was so low on its gauge that something just had to happen! If something didn't happen soon. Sarah was sure she would die. But you have to be careful of what you wish for.

Roy knocked on the door Kain's door. A few moments later Sarah opened the door to have Roy shove a red dress into her hands. "Put this on. We're going out," He said casually.

She looked out him for along moment. "You know when I say things like 'paint the town red' at work I don't really mean red. And when I say that's it's not just some open invitation for you to come over."

"You would love to paint this town sometime. So are you going painting tonight?"

"…No."

"Then we should 'paint the town red' as you said."

"And how do you know my dress size?"

"Never underestimate me."

She looked at it for a moment and turned back to the door, quietly waving him in. He followed with a smirk on his face. First level of Kain's town house actually looked like a house. It was the top floor that had turned into his radio/communication headquarters with sniper view window and enough rifle material to assist in a small raid. But the first two floors were homey, though he wasn't sure about the second floor. Kain didn't use it much until after Sarah moved in.  
"Wait on the couch" she ordered as she climbed the steps to the second floor, passing Kain as he made his way down stairs. He looked surprised to see Roy.

"Colonel? What are you doing here?"

Roy smirked at Kain as he glanced towards the stairs. "I'm taking Sarah out for a date."

Kain put a hand on his hip and wagged a finger at Roy. "You treat my daughter right" he said jokingly. Roy laughed as he continued the joke.

"Yes of course s-sir." Just then Sarah came down the stairs, Roy wolf whistling. Sarah stood at the bottom of the stairs with an irritated look o her face, brought about my Roy's whistle. The red halter dress clung to her chest but poofed out slightly, giving it a nice elegant look as it cascaded down the rest of her body. Roy's eyes roamed up and down her in an almost hungry fashion as he nodded his head in approval. "You look absolutely stunning Sarah."

"Oh, wait wait!" Kain added as he fled to the kitchen. He opened a draw and dug around till he found what he wanted. He stood in front of Sarah, pulling her bangs to the side as he brought forth a decorated bobby pin and slipped it in her hair. He smiled as if proud.

"Nice touch Kain. Looks like you've got another 'father' Sarah." Roy smiled as he offered her his arm in a gentlemanly fashion. She took it with a bit of blush on her face but just then Kain started up again.

"Oh, wait! Picture! Picture!"

"Oh my gosh! No! Kain that's embarrassing!" but he already had his camera out. He was obviously doing this on purpose.

"Why not just humor him, Sarah? Besides, Hughes will want photos too." He smiled down at her in a charming fashion. Sarah stood embarrassed as she waited for Kain to snap his picture and get it over with. Kain hurried back over to them with a large camera in his hands. He fussed over them for a few moments like a mother hen before stepping back. "Alright smile you two." Sarah gave a smile and Kain flashed his picture.

"Alright you two have a good time now. Roy, don't do anything to her." Roy rolled his eyes and smirked as they left. He smiled down at her.

"You know I wouldn't be surprised if Hughes had a copy of that photo tomorrow morning."

"I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing," Sarah replied as they finally stepped out and closed the door behind them. He led her towards a black car.

"Well whichever it turns out to be he'll be waving it around tomorrow." They could practically hear Kain calling Hughes and telling him about the photo. "Anyway, are you hungry?"

"Yes~" Roy opened the door for Sarah then got in after him as they headed toward their destination. He pulled up and handed his keys to a valet before helping Sarah out of the car. Smooth jazz music poured out of the grand place and other nicely dressed couples were also walking in.

"This is where I had originally wanted to take you. Welcome to Reverie's." He led her in, occasionally greeting those who called out to him, and upon arriving at the desk let them know about his reservations. They quickly led them to a candle lit table that was near the band. A large space in the middle of the room was cleared so that couples could dance. "Is this place alright, Sarah?"

"I love it." A waiter came over with menus and asked what they would like to drink. They glanced over the menus, both recognizing most, if not all of the alcoholic drinks.

"I'll have the sunburst champagne." Roy stated before looking to Sarah.

"Sharlamain on the rocks."

"Coming right up." The waiter smiled at them before leaving to get their drinks. Roy turned to Sarah. "So how have things been in Archer's department? I've barely seen you lately."

"Busy with Scar's case. But no one likes me going out in the field. It's frustrating. I end up staying in the office with Kim. They don't like to let him in the field ether. Think he'll destroy the whole city if they do."

"That's a very likely possibility. Perhaps they're a bit worried that you might get killed if they let you go after Scar." Roy lightly placed his hand on top of hers. "Nobody wants to see you hurt or worse Sarah."

"Yeah, but it's not like I'm some damsel." The waiter came back with their drinks. She took a thoughtful sip before continuing. "I had 4 brothers back home. You learn a thing or two when you live with violet drunks. And besides, where is the adventure if there is no danger?" She took another sip of her drink.

Roy's eyes widened slightly. "I suppose that's right." He took a sip of his drink as he glanced down at his menu. "What did you want to eat?"

"Filet mignon."

He nodded his head as he glanced back up at her. "I think I may get the same as you." He looked out on the dance floor before standing up and giving her a small bow, offering her his hand. "Shall we dance my lady?"

"I don't know. Can you handle my mad skills?" She laughed at herself as she stood from the table."

"I think I can." He chuckled as he took her hand and led her onto the dance floor. Upon reaching it his hand slipped around her waist as he pulled her close to him. Slow jazz filled their ears and she rests her head on his chest. He kissed the top of her head gently as they slowly spun in small circles. "Are you alright?"

"Hmmm yeah." She said with a sigh.

He stroked her short brown hair tenderly. "Are you still depressed about her birthday passing last week?" He asked cautiously, not sure how to interpret her sigh.

"Maybe a little but it's Ok. I'm not going to let it consume my time. I think that's just part of moving forward"

"Good. Because then it'd ruin this." He tilted her head up and touched his lips to hers hungrily, their noses rubbing together.

But Sarah pulled away and glanced around embarrassed. "D-don't do that here."

"Why not? I do believe that I have the privilege of kissing you since you're my date...unless you don't want me to kiss you?" he looked slightly hurt at the idea.

"Stop asking stupid questions," she said, her face lighting up with color.

He cupped her face tenderly as his eyes gazed into her brown depths. "Please answer the question Sarah."

"B-but...not in public. It's embarrassing"

"Alright then. I'll work on not kissing you in public." He pecked her forehead before leading her back to the table. "Perhaps you'd like to order our food now then?" She nodded and smiled as she turned to her normal color. She took her seat and the waiter returned. They both ordered and handed their menus back to the waiter. They both sipped at their drinks as they waited, Sarah finishing hers first and getting another. Roy reached out and tucked a stray hair behind her ear. "You're beautiful you know."

She smiled. "I know it better than most girls, but I don't know if I fully believe it."

"You're stunningly beautiful Sarah. If you don't fully believe it I will remind you every day." He smirked and kissed her hand.

"Don't say cheesy stuff like that. It sounds like the dialog from an old romance novel. Sounds totally fake." She gave him a playful smile. "Do girls really fall for that? Come on, you got to use something a little more original."

"I could think of something else but I think it'll have to wait till after dinner." He smirked at her as their food arrived.


	30. Kidnapping

Kit-Kat: Hey everyone, sorry that it's been taking me so long to update. Here's the next chapter. Hope you all enjoy it. This one may not get updated for a little bit due to the fact that Wishes and I are working our butts off with school and plus Wishes has a job to fit into their busy schedule as well. So while you wait for Wishes and I to get back to this one feel free to check out our Hetalia story, A New Order, and let us know what you think of it. :)

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They ate as they made light conversation. When they were done the waiter came took their empty plates. "Are you having a good time Sarah?" Roy asked.

"Yes. But I wish the band would play something livelier! Like 'Hey! Pacheco', 'Chattanooga Choo Choo', 'Pennsylvania 6-5000', or 'Sing Sing Sing'. Oh but my favorite is 'In the Mood'" Sarah got up and headed over to the band. Roy's expression turned a bit worried as he requested the check so he could pay incase anything happened. Sarah pulled the young black saxophone player aside. She had him lean in so she could whisper in his ear to tell him something. He wrapped an arm around her hips as a smile crossed his lips.

"Sure baby. I'd love to," he replied when she pulled away.

"Sorry but-" Roy arrived behind her, his arm going around her hips. "I'd appreciate it if you'd keep your hands off of my date."

"Oh, no foul. She just wants requesting a song. Let me talk to the guys and I'll have you swinging in no time girl." He turned to the other guys in the group and they immediately started the new beat. The couples on the dance floor stopped for a moment before they began dancing with the beat. Sarah took Roy's hands and walked backwards into the middle of the dance floor.

"Come on Roy Baby. Let's dance like its 1920."

"1920's not for another 4 years, Sarah."

"You know what I mean!"

Roy chuckled as he and Sarah began dancing along with the other couples. About an hour later Sarah and Roy walked out of the restaurant. Roy laughed as he started up the car, listening to Sarah's comments about the night.

"I loved the waiter's face when I got on the table and danced!"

"That was definitely the most interesting thing I've seen in a long time." He glanced at the clock to see it saying 12:00am. "I think it's a little past curfew...so that Kain doesn't wake up how about you stay with me for the night?"

"Aw, yeah. Don't want to wake poor Kain" Roy smiled at Sarah as he walked around to her side of the car. He looked down at her and cupped her cheek.

"Now where were we?" His eyes slid shut as he bent down to kiss her. Sarah looked up at him and just as her eyes were about to close, a quick motion caught her eye and she looked over his shoulder to see Scar leaping towards them, ready to kill. She quickly pulled him out of the way, both of them skidding on the hard concrete as Scar came into contact with Roy's car. The car exploded with a roar as flames danced and attempted to spread.

"What just happened!"

"Scar's here. I finally get some action," Sarah said, as she slowly stood up, carefully taking in her surroundings with a grin on her face. Roy got up, joining her by her side as he slipped on a new glove.

Scar straightened himself up as he rose to face is opponent. "The Flame Alchemist and The Jade Alchemist, for the injustice you have committed this hand will pass down judgment in the name of God." He took an intimidating step forward. "Would you like a moment to pray t-"

"AHH!" Sarah charged. "Things I learned from the other world! Lesson One: always attack when the bad guy is making their long speech!" Sarah got a toothy grin seeing the surprise in Scar's face. She ran forward and clapped her hands together. Finally! The technique that gave Sarah her state name was finally going to be used in action! Alchemic light glittered across Sarah's skin. Solid green stone crawled out of her jacket sleeves and formed thick armored gloves with claws over her hands. She leapt at him, meaning to strike, but Scar dodged in time to only receive a small cut in his arm. Sarah slid on the gravel as she tried to stop. "Damn, I missed."

"Where did-" But Sarah cut him off again. "I wear jade jewelry and when it's time to fight form it on to my hand it to a hard arm weapon. The Chinese used to use jade for daggers and swords. I know diamonds would be better but I look good in green. And Jade Alchemist just sounds cooler."

"I see now," Scar said, as he popped his knuckles.

"What a boring reaction." Sighed Sarah as she stood up and brushed herself off as she prepared to attack again.

"Sarah! What do you think you're doing!" Roy shouted.

"Call me Major Elroy! I'm on the job right now Mustang!" Her voice held so much excitement!

"It's too dangerous! Leave this fight to me!"

"I thought I told you! I'm not some damsel!"

At this point both Roy and Sarah throw each other in a round of attacks at Scar at the same time. Roy snapped his fingers, the dry night air causing his flame to flutter in a blaze toward his target, while Sarah also flung herself toward Scar as well, claws at the ready. Scar's eyes were on Roy, so he dodge-rolled out of the way of Roy's explosion but the flames hit Sarah. She shielded herself face with her arms which the stone took the blow well. The ends of her hair were slightly singed. It wasn't super noticeable but nothing a trim wouldn't fix later.

"Major! Are you alright," Roy shouted with panic.

"Watch where you fire, Horse Head! We need to coordinate our moves together so-"

"This is my fight! You stay out of it! I don't want to see you hurt!"

"Then don't fire at me!" Neither one cooperating with another, Roy and Sarah threw themselves into their attacks, sometimes hurting each other in the attempt to hit Scar. As for Scar, he was quite nimble; dodging most of the attacks, taking minimum damage. Becoming frustrated that they weren't getting anywhere Sarah charged, determined to hit Scar. She made the claws on her hands longer, giving her a better reach. Raking the claws in a downward swipe, she caught him across his chest and upper arm as he tried to dive. Sadly part of the attack caught the fire hydrant behind him as well right as Roy fired a column of flame towards Scar. Sadly the flame was extinguished by the water gushing from the open hydrant; the heat of the flame turning the droplets of water to steam before the attack even came close to Scar.

The steam was so thick that it seemed like it could be cut with a knife as it encompassed everything within 20 feet. Sarah crouched slightly, on guard incase Scar decided to attack. She felt a hand grab her arm and attempt to pull her; quickly turning she gave the person a left hook that practically almost destroyed that person's jaw. Mustang groaned in pain and released her arm.

"Major what did you do that for? I'm trying to get us out of here!"

"Why! We can still fight!"

"Not in this environment we can't. We can't see a thing. Now come on!" She could see Roy slightly through the steam coming towards her. Someone grabbed her wrist and began leading her through the steam. While she grumbled slightly she didn't complain since she had faith in Mustang to get her out of this. They ran down the backstreets of Central. Once they were finally clear of the steam though it was too dark to see any more than the outline of the person in front of her.

"Hey horse head, slowdown!" The person in front of her came to a stop and turned around to face her. Her eyes widened as the man's red eyes seemed to glow in the darkness.

"I'm not that bastard Jade Alchemist."

"S-scar!" She went to hit him but he grabbed her arm, pulling her forward to hit her in a certain spot on the back of her head, successfully knocking her unconscious. He scooped her up in his arms none too gently and headed towards the refugee camp as the moon came out from behind the clouds, illuminating a figure on the roof top above. He smirked in a feral fashion as he turned to leave.

"Pride is not going to like his little pet being stolen."

~oOo~

Bradley's eyes snapped open as he sensed a presence outside his window. Being careful not to disturb his sleeping wife, he rose and walked towards the balcony, grabbing his saber along the way. He swung the doors open, neither of their hinges making a squeak as he stepped out onto the balcony. A figure resembling a palm tree sat on the railing.

"What do you want this late at night Envy?"

"Come now Pride aren't you going to invite me in for a drink or something? I thought you had manners." Bradley's hand went to the saber and Envy held up his hands in peace. "Alright alright Pride. The reason I came was to inform you that your little pet, the Jade Alchemist, was taken by Scar tonight. Mustang failed to protect her." Bradley's aura darkened immensely, making Envy nervous.

"Bring her back at any cost. I don't care if u kill everyone just bring her back alive. We need the information about the future that she will give us."

"And what if she doesn't want to give it?" Bradley smirked, the eye with the homunculus tattoo opening.

"Then we'll use someone she deeply cares for to make her."


	31. Chapter 31

WishesIWasHuman: Wishes here. You guys are official up to speed. You are reading everything we have written so far. Because of this, updates may not come as quickly as you would like. I'm not sure about Kit-Kat, but I'm a busy person. I have a job, I have my senior year of high school, I have AP classes (which are hard for me because I'm not too bright), collage essays, my bills (like car stuff), I run my schools anime club, etc. I got shit to do. I still haven't beaten Assassin's Creed! Do you know how long this game has been out! How can I properly flirt with boys if I haven't played the latest games! OK, that was a joke. A big part of the update problem is Kit-Kat and I don't live anywhere near each other anymore. I'm rooting for the Jaguar and this girl is wearing Charger's colors! It's hard to write stuff when I'm in bed when she's just thinking about making dinner. So cool your jets. You will get updates. This story isn't going to die anytime soon. While you wait, why don't you do your homework? I know it's not done yet! Also, I have been reading your comments. Like you guys, I used to sit in front of the PC reading to many fan fictions and they made me really like Archer's character. I pulled him into the story to give this character a new light, to show that he is human. Like they say, "There are two sides of a story." Well there are also sides of a character you never get to see in the original story. I like using RPs and fan fictions to explore that unseen part. I hope I can explore that with you guys.

Kit-Kat: As Wishes stated, all of you lovely readers are now officially up to speed. Wishes is in her Senior year and I'm in my Junior, but I just move across the freakin country! So now it's totally new social groups, classes, friends...the works! I'm going crazy and now I have to learn about all the new colleges out here and where I want to go! So while I love all of you and the fact that you enjoy our story, PLEASE CALM DOWN! I will update, it just might take longer than others occasionally. So here's the newest chapter and I hope you enjoy it. 8D

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Archer didn't even bother to put on his uniform. He quickly dressed in his civilian clothes, which he rarely had the chance to wear. He couldn't believe his father's jacket still fit him after all these years. He threw his brown paperboy hat over his bed head. Now this was a little tight around his noggin, since it was from his academy days. Next were the loafers, which were waiting for him by the door. He wore them often, but never actually out of the house. He charged out of the house, his dachshund barking in protest as he left. Why had he ever let his sister talk him into taking that thing in? He remembered her holding up the small dog and saying, "Look, Frank, you have the same face!" Normally he would pat the dogs head before leaving and say, "Chip, I'm leaving. Watch the house." But it was one in the morning and he wasn't exactly thinking properly.

Archer didn't own a car. In fact, he didn't even have his license. There was never a need for one. He always took the trolley to work, the store, the coffee shop. But it was one in the morning and the trolley didn't run until 5am. Archer ran to the back of his house and leaped over the neighbor's fence, making sure not to jump into Mrs. Gunner's garden. The Gunner's let Archer keep his bicycle in their shed, since he had no place to put it. He brushed away the vines that covered the handle and quickly slid it open. The rusted door squealed as dust poured out of the shed. It must not have been opened in a long time. But Archer couldn't help but smile as he was greeted by his old racing bicycle, as if it had been waiting for him. When he was a young man, he was a part of 'Central City's Competitive Bicycling Club' and once dreamed of going pro. But that was when he was young. Those kinds of silly dreams die with years.

He pulled the bicycle out of the shed and closed the door again as he then carried it over the fence. Archer walked to the middle of the quiet road and placed the bicycle down. Hesitant at first, he swung a leg over it as he got on. Damn it had been a while. He gripped the rubber covers of his handlebars as he sized up the road in front of him. Archer lived in an older part of Central, all of the houses were made of wood and the whole place just reeked of an old fashion nostalgic atmosphere. A lot of older people lived in this part of town. Most people called it old Central or the old district. The road was also old and whining but still good and flat. What Archer was worried about was the hill. He lived on the top of a hill. A steep hill that had would carry him all the way to down town, where the wooden buildings turned to stone ones and the street became narrow. After passing through there, it was a straight shot to Central HQ. He hadn't been on a bicycle in a very long time. Archer took a deep breath and kicked off the ground to get the bicycle rolling. The cool air beat against his face as he dove downhill.

He was asleep when he got the call from HQ. The only persons that would be there at this time of night were the MP night officers. Brave men, he always thought. Archer could never tolerate night shift. He just loved sleep way too much. This was obvious when he answered the phone said, "This had better be pretty damn important or I will personally see that you are fired. Do. You. Under. Stand. Me. Officer."

"Sir, Mustang just came into the office in a panic. We need you to come in right now."

"I don't give a shit about Must-"

"He's saying something about Scar attacking him and Major Elroy but she isn't here with him." There was a long pause. "Sir?"

"I'm on my way."

And after that Archer was up and moving, completely awake. He swears he had never peddled so fast in his life. He actually got there faster then he would have if he had taken the trolley. He rode his bicycle through the entrance gate and parked it in the court yard over looking his office. One MP Officer was on the phone while the other was trying to fill out a report. A few other members of the investigations team was there along with Mustang. Kimblee looked like he was ready to rip someone's head off as he sat in a white beater tank top that hugged his body nicely and grey sweat pants with his mouth in his hand. His hair was not in a pony tail at the moment and he seemed very annoyed by it as it continuously fell in his face. It looked like Hughes was the only one who attempted to put on his uniform. His standard issue boots were covered in mud, he wore a white t-shirt, and suspenders that were holding up his uniform pants. His jacket was nowhere in sight and he must have forgot it at home. Hughes looked the most tired out of everyone. Armstrong was in light blue PJs and had on pink slipper. This was something that Archer did not want to see. A grown man like the Major in his PJs. Armstrong looked to be consoling with Mustang who seemed in a horrified state of shock.

Archer stormed over to Mustang and snatched up a fist full of his shirt.

"Where is she!" He growled through his teeth as the other men stepped into pull them apart. Armstrong sat Mustang down in a folding chair.

"Sarah, um, the Major and I were out to dinner together. When we felt Scar attacked us. In the confusion, I hit the fire hydrant and Scar escaped through the steam. When it was cleared Sarah, uh, Major Elroy was gone."

There was a long silence as Roy swallowed nervously. He whimpered as he stumbled over his grief filled words. "S-she's dead."

"Colonel, we don't know that." Armstrong put a hand on his shoulder.

"He said he was going to kill us both," he said burying his face in his hands.

"There wasn't any blood at the scene Roy. She could still be alive."

"This is your fault." Archer scolded in rage.

Roy said nothing in response as Hughes sighed. "We'll find her somehow. We already have troops looking for her but I don't think Scar killed her." Archer turned on Hughes, his eyes flashing wildly.

"What makes you say that! For all we know her corpse could be laying in one of the alley's nearby here! Or she could be bleeding to death! Or-" Kimblee growled at Archer, making the room go quiet as they turned to look at the pyromaniac. Kimblee was running on very little sleep which made his temper even worse than usual.

"Archer just shut up for a damn moment!" When no one responded after a few moments, Hughes cleared his throat and continued.

"As I was saying, I don't think she's been killed because earlier on today we captured a group of Ishvalan women and children. Very few men were among them but there were some. We think that Scar may end up trying to ransom her in order to get back those people." The room was silent once again as Archer tried to get his emotions back under control. He removed his hat and ran his hand through his hair as he muttered a few obscene words. He turned back to Hughes.

"For now we'll assume that's what's going to happen. If we don't get a note within 36 hours though, I will tear this city apart to find her." Kimblee leaned forward against his chair.

"That's all well and good but there's one more problem that we need to confront." They all turned to him curiously. "Who wants to tell Katie about this?" Archer and Mustang paled at the thought.

"W-wait till morning. Until then no one leaves this office till the Major is found."

There was a groan of complaint from Kimblee.


	32. Chapter 32

Kit-Kat: ok here's the new chapter. Hope all of you enjoy it :)

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The clash of swords rang out in the forested area, drowning out any other sound. Katie charged Ling, attempting to wound him, but having no luck. He dodged her every move. Edward and Alphonse had gone into town to see if they could collect any information about the philosopher's stone. Before they had left, Ling had decided that this would be another good time for sword training. He had begun teaching Katie not long after they had left Izumi's place. Ed had been against the idea at first till Ling had made the point that Katie would be able to protect herself better if she had at least one weapon which she knew how to use properly.

"Your footing's not right Katie. Don't twist with the elbow so much." Ling chastised before knocking the sword out of Katie's hand and knocking her down. She rolled quickly out of the way and ran to grab the sword when his arm went to her waist and pulled her back, pinning her to a nearby tree as he laid the blade against her bare throat. Katie glared up at him playfully before sighing.

"I'm never going to get this right." Ling chuckled and removed the blade, sheathing it before pulling her into his arms. He held her tightly as he ran a hand through her hair.

"You've improved a lot since I've started teaching you. You've got the basics down, now it's just the technique." Katie pouted and huffed, making him laugh. "Patience is a virtue Katie." She rolled her eyes and elbowed him lightly, making him let go of her as she went to retrieve her sword.

"Yeah and its one neither of us have Ling. When it comes to training I don't feel like going slow and when it comes to food, you never consider slowing down to chew." He laughed as she sheathed her sword and laid down on the ground, her hands behind her head as she stared up at the points of light peeking through the green canopy. Silence enveloped them for several minutes before Ling walked towards her and sat on the ground next to her.

"What are you thinking about?" His voice, which usually held light and playful tones, was curious with hints of seriousness in it. Katie sighed before stretching one of her hands up towards the forest ceiling.

"Many things. Little things. Like if Sarah still hates me for the choice I made? Will I be able to find a way home for us? How much time has passed back in our world? Do I really want to leave? But if I choose to stay wouldn't I be a burden to my friends here?" As fingers intertwined with her own, she turned to her head to look at Ling.

"I can't tell you if your friend still hates you or not, but if she's truly your friend then I doubt she does. I have no answers for your second and third questions, but I doubt anyone in this world does. As for if you actually want to leave or not, that is something you have to figure out on you own. But you would never be a burden to any of us Katie, especially me. If I become Emperor of Xing you can come live in the palace with me." Katie stiffened and slowly sat up, tucking her knees against her chest as her expression saddened. In the original plot line, Ling is able to become Emperor of Xing and helps create a sense of peace among the clans. But what if her and Sarah's arrival here made that impossible? She felt his arm wrap around her shoulders and she leaned into the embrace slightly.

"Ling…..you will become the next Emperor of Xing." He looks at her curiously before remembering what she had mentioned the first night she met him, about how he and all the others here were fictional characters in the world she was from. He doubted her at first, but there had been no trace of a lie in her eyes and posture so he assumed she was telling the truth. He smiled happily and playfully ruffled her hair before standing up.

"Then there's nothing to worry about!" Katie rolled her eyes but returned his smile. They heard footsteps approaching, but didn't bother preparing for a possible attack as they heard Edward grumbling about stumbling through the forest while trying to find them. As he and Alphonse came into the clearing, Katie stood up and went over to them, hugging both of them tightly.

"You two were gone so long I was beginning to get worried. Did you get lost on your way back or something?"

"What do you expect! You two are in the middle of a forest for crying out loud! It's not like we can say 'oh turn left at the second tree to the right and continue till you find the gray pebble' or something to find our way back to you!" Katie flinched back a little from Ed, making Alphonse put a hand on his shoulder as he spoke.

"Brother's just irritated because he couldn't find any new leads on the stone Katie. Ignore him for the moment. How was training?" Katie smiled up at Alphonse while Ed continued to grumble quietly.

"It's going well. I'm slowly improving though Ling is still handing my butt to me on a silver platter." At that she turned back and playfully glared at Ling as he came forward, chuckling.

"Hey you were the one who said you didn't want me to go easy on you." He smirked as he wrapped an arm around Katie's waist as she mumbled something about stupid Xingese princes throwing her words back at her. Ed's eyes narrowed at the casual way Ling had his arm around her. He hated the way that Katie seemed completely comfortable with him even though she had been with him and Al for much longer. He hated how this stupid prince could touch her so freely or could flirt with her like it was second nature. And he definitely hated how cocky this guy was. Ling's eyes met Ed's and his eyes seemed to be gloating. Like he was silently saying that Katie enjoyed being with him more than being with the brothers! Ed turned his attention back to Katie.

"Hey we should get going," Katie nodded and started forth alongside Al, chatting with him happily. Ling went to follow but Ed stopped him. The prince looked down at Ed curiously with a lazy smirk on his lips, making Ed even more irritated. "Look just keep away from her got it? Don't touch her and don't talk to her unless it's about training." Ling's eyes opened slightly, his dark brown eyes shining at the challenge.

"And what makes you think that I'll listen to you shorty? She enjoys my company and I enjoy hers. Besides she needs someone there to comfort her and keep her happy." Ed's cheeks reddened in anger, but he refused to start yelling since his brother and Katie would hear him if he did.

"Alphonse and I can keep her perfectly happy and safe. Besides we've been watching out for her long before you arrived! And the reason that I know that you'll listen to me is because you are no longer welcome to travel with us!" Ed turned to leave as Ling spoke up.

"You're not going to make her choose are you? She enjoys traveling with you two and you guys are her best bet to finding a way back to her world, but she heavily enjoys my company Edward. You're severely underestimating her feelings for you and your brother and her feelings for me. Do you want to be the bad guy to her little brother? Because if she leaves you two to come with me she'll be miserable and worried about you the both of you; and if you force me to leave then she'll miss me and become depressed. You have no idea how many times I've had to wipe away her tears or calm her fears. She's a lot more emotionally unstable than you know." Ed spun around to face him, fire lighting up his golden eyes.

"I know more about her than you will ever know! She does not need you so stop your whining and start moving along. She has me and I'm the only one she really needs." Before anything more could be said, Katie's voice rang out.

"Hey, are you two coming?" Ed turned in the direction of her voice, seeing Al and her as little specs. He hurried forward, Ling following silently behind him. They quickly caught up to the two, a smile on Ed's face.

"Yeah, Ling was just saying how he's decided to travel separately from us." Katie's eyes widened and became sad as she turned to look at Ling.

"Why?" She didn't start wailing as other girls might've done at the idea of someone they cared about leaving them. Ling shook his head and walked over to her, ruffling her hair.

"I'm not going anywhere. Little brother over there thought that it might be a good idea if I traveled separately so we could cover more ground, but that wouldn't work out very well since I'm teaching you how to sword fight and such. And then you would also have to choose one group to go with if that happened and knowing you, you'd worry about whoever it was that you weren't with." Katie nodded her head, the sadness disappearing slowly from her eyes as she listened to what Ling was saying. She smiled sweetly up at Ling, her eyes happy again. Ed came up and grabbed her hand without thinking, dragging her away from Ling.

"Come on, we have to get to the station quickly so that we can get out of here." Katie laughed softly as she chided Edward on being too impatient as Al followed close behind. Ling watched them for a few moments; his eyes open as he regarded Edward seriously. He would not let the brat separate him and Katie.

"Let the games begin little brother. We'll see who she chooses in the end."


	33. Chapter 33

Kit-Kat: Sorry that it's taken so long to update and everything. Life has been crazy for everyone these past few months. Hopefully there will be more updates at a quicker pace now. Thanks to everyone to continue to update and for keeping with us. :) 3

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"Come on, we have to get to the station quickly so that we can get out of here." Katie laughed softly as she chided Edward on being too impatient as Al followed close behind. Ling watched them for a few moments; his eyes open as he regarded Edward seriously. He would not let the brat separate him and Katie.

"Let the games begin little brother. We'll see who she chooses in the end." He said softly as he hurries forward to rejoin the group. They continued on through the forest, stumbling out onto the road near the train station eventually. Ed and Al started off towards the station quickly, wanting to continue onto the next town to see if there were any new leads. Katie hung back around Ling, both of them quiet for a few moments.

"What's the matter Hua?" Ling had started calling her this in his native language, though it sounded almost exactly like Chinese. Katie had long given up on asking him what it meant since he absolutely refused to tell her.

"Nothing Ling." He glanced up at Ed who was preoccupied with Alphonse before slipping his hand into hers, squeezing it gently.

"You're lying Hua. Now tell me, what's wrong?" Katie sighed, her eyes focused on the ground as they walked slowly.

"Y-you're not really going to leave right?" She asked softly, her feeling of insecurity clearly showing in her voice. She wasn't like this at all around the brothers and not very much around him either. She was one who would suffer quietly unless forced to talk about what was bothering her. Ling squeezed her hand tightly in reassurance.

"Of course not. What kind of friend would I be if I abandoned you half way through your training? Besides, I need my teddy bear with me to help me sleep and feel safe." Katie laughed at the other nickname he had for her, remembering how he first called her that on her birthday. Ling smiled at the sound of her laughter, it sounded like soft bells.

Katie glanced over at the Elric brothers before hugging Ling randomly, causing the prince to stop for a moment. She barely ever was the first to show affection like hugs or kisses when they were alone yet here she was in public with the Elrics not far from them as she hugged him! After a moment of his brain processing what was happening, he returned the hug. She pulled back rather quickly, her cheeks a light pink though she was smiling happily at him.

"Hey Ling I'll be right back. If Ed or Al asks where I went tell them I'm going to make a quick call, ok? They'll know what I'm talking about." She quickly stated before hurrying off through the semi crowded station. This wasn't the first time that she had left the group for several minutes when they were at a train station or in town, but she had never really told him where she went. Putting his training to good use, he stealthily followed her, blending in with the crowd. He saw her run over to a pay phone and got closer to listen to her conversation.

"Hey…how's the princess?...What do you means she's been kidnapped!?...Do you have any idea what this means for us!" Katie continued talking, but Ling had heard enough. He felt pain in his chest as he quickly distanced himself from where Katie was. Lan Fan and Fu had been right! Why hadn't he listened to them earlier when they had said that she had ulterior motives! He sat on a bench, his head in his hands as his mind replayed what he heard of the conversation over and over, anger filling his soul. Now that he knew what she truly was, a spy for another clan, he would show her no mercy if she tried to come after him. Yes, he would have to dispatch her the moment she made her move against him. His heart ached at the thought, but he merely pushed it aside. His heart could not rule in all matters and this was a matter that could not be clouded by emotion.

~oOo~

"Kimblee I can't believe you let this happen!" Katie yelled through the phone. On the other side, Kimblee rubbed his temples. Why did he have to be the one stuck telling her about Sarah's disappearance?

"Listen kitten, if you want to yell at someone, yell at Mustang. It's his fault that Sarah got kidnapped." He heard muttering and a little dark laughter.

"Oh no, I've got something so much worse than yelling planned for Mustang…I have to go Kimblee, but the Elrics and I will be back in Central soon to help find her." She hung up before he could respond. He glanced over at Mustang, who looked a bit nervous.

"What did she say?" Kimblee stared at him seriously, though a small smirk was on his lips.

"I suggest you start planning your funeral."


End file.
